In February 2020, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. became the first company to present clinical data for an emerging class of genetically engineered cell therapies, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-directed natural killer (NK) cells. Interim data from a Phase I/IIa trial of Takeda’s anti-CD19 CAR-NK candidate TAK-007 suggested the tantalizing potential that this new modality may substantially improve upon existing CAR-T therapies as a potentially curative standard-of-care for heavily pre-treated patients with hematological malignancies.
The allogeneic nature of TAK-007 could remove many of the manufacturing and logistical hurdles that restrict access to autologous CAR-T...





