Vaxcell-bio's NK cell therapy wins therapeutic approval for liver cancer

South Korean anti-cancer immunotherapy company Vaxcell-Bio Therapeutics announced on Friday that its natural killer (NK) cell therapy, Vax-NK/HCC, has received "therapeutic use approval" for patients with advanced liver cancer. 

The approval was granted by the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety after Vaxcell-Bio Therapeutics applied through Hwasun Jeonnam Hospital. The decision allows for the use of the treatment in seriously ill patients who have exhausted other treatment options.

Vax-NK/HCC is currently in Phase 2a clinical trials for advanced liver cancer and has already been used therapeutically in 11 cases of nine different types of cancer, including liposarcoma and chondrosarcoma. In 2019, Vax-NK/HCC was used to successfully treat a patient with terminal liver cancer who had previously failed with conventional chemotherapy. The patient has reportedly survived for more than three years.

"We will continue to expand our Vax-NK platform and prepare for new clinical trials for progressive pancreatic cancer and refractory small cell lung cancer," said Lee Je-jung, Vaxcell-Bio Therapeutics' CEO. "The conditional approval for therapeutic use will allow our company to provide more treatment opportunities for patients with advanced cancer."

Write to Min-Soo Han at hms@hankyung.com