ISCT 2021 | ATA188: an allogeneic EBV-specific T cell therapy for progressive MS

Jakob Dupont, MD, MA, Atara Biotherapeutics, San Francisco, CA, describes ATA188, an off-the-shelf, healthy donor-derived T-cell immunotherapy that targets Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) for the treatment of progressive MS. He provides an overview of the Phase I/II EMBOLD study (NCT03283826) of ATA188 in patients with progressive MS. The open-label dose-escalation period of this study (Part 1) demonstrated the safety and tolerability of ATA188, with a lack of reported infusion reactions or cytokine release syndromes. The ongoing double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled dose-expansion period (Part 2) aims to evaluate the efficacy of ATA188 through the primary outcome measure of sustained Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) improvement at 12 months post-treatment. This interview took place during the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy (ISCT) Annual Meeting 2021.