Arovella’s Novel CAR-T Therapy Shows Promise in Pancreatic Cancer Fight

Arovella Therapeutics (ASX: ALA) has achieved a significant breakthrough in cancer research, announcing that its proprietary CLDN18.2 CAR-T cells have successfully killed pancreatic cancer cells in a laboratory study. This promising result marks an important step forward in the company’s development of next generation immunotherapies using its invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cell platform.

The preclinical study, conducted in collaboration with the University of North Carolina under the guidance of Professor Gianpietro Dotti, used a human pancreatic cancer cell line that naturally expresses CLDN18.2 — a tumour-specific target found in both gastric and pancreatic cancers. Arovella’s CAR-T cells demonstrated potent activity, matching the performance of a leading CLDN18.2 CAR from CARsgen Therapeutics, whose product is already undergoing regulatory review in China.

Dr Michael Baker, CEO and Managing Director of Arovella, said the results validate the company’s proprietary CAR design and support its plans to progress the therapy into more advanced studies.

“Seeing the robust activity of our novel and proprietary CLDN18.2-targeting CAR against pancreatic cancer cells has the team excited as we expand our pipeline to target difficult to treat solid tumours,” Dr Baker said.

Unlike traditional CAR-T therapies, which have shown limited success in solid tumours, Arovella’s approach uses iNKT cells, which can better reshape the tumour microenvironment and activate additional immune responses. This is a crucial advantage in tackling aggressive cancers like pancreatic adenocarcinoma, which remains one of the deadliest forms of cancer due to its resistance to current treatments.

The next stage for Arovella is to engineer its CLDN18.2 CAR into iNKT cells and conduct in vivo studies in mouse models for both pancreatic and gastric cancers. These studies will generate critical safety and efficacy data needed to progress the therapy toward clinical trials.

CLDN18.2 has emerged as a compelling target for cancer therapies due to its high expression in specific tumour types and minimal expression in healthy tissues. Arovella holds an exclusive licence to the antigen-binding sequences used in its CAR design, strengthening its intellectual property position in this competitive space.

Only a small number of companies globally are developing CLDN18.2-targeting CAR-iNKT therapies, placing Arovella at the forefront of an innovative field with substantial medical need and commercial potential.

As the company works toward integrating this new construct into its broader iNKT platform, investors and clinicians alike will be watching closely. Success in this program could establish Arovella as a leader in next generation cell therapies for solid tumours, adding to its pipeline that also includes ALA-101 for blood cancers.