• Imugene and JW Therapeutics (Shanghai) Co., LTD have entered a strategic collaboration to evaluate a novel combination therapy using Imugene's onCARlytics (CF33-CD19) oncolytic virus and JW's CD19 CAR-T cell therapy, Carteyva®, in refractory solid tumors.
• The collaboration includes preclinical studies, followed by a Phase 1 investigator-initiated trial (IIT) in China targeting difficult-to-treat cancers.
• This approach represents a first-in-class "mark and kill" strategy, leveraging oncolytic virus-induced CD19 expression to make solid tumors targetable by CD19-CAR T cells.
• The collaboration leverages JW's commercial CAR-T infrastructure and Imugene's clinical onCARlytics platform to generate preclinical and clinical data and inform further clinical development.

Imugene Ltd (ASX:IMU), a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company, and JW Therapeutics (Shanghai) Co., LTD (HKEX:2126), a leading biotechnology company focused on cell-based immunotherapies, announced a co-development collaboration to evaluate the combination of Imugene's oncolytic virus CF33-CD19 (onCARlytics) and JW's Carteyva®—a CD19-directed autologous CAR-T cell therapy—for patients with advanced solid tumors. 

This collaboration includes preclinical in vitro and in vivo studies, followed by a Phase 1 investigator-initiated trial to be conducted exclusively in China at premier CAR-T clinical centers. The approach utilizes Imugene's CF33-CD19 virus to induce CD19 expression on tumor cells, rendering them susceptible to targeting by CD19 CAR-T therapies—a transformative "mark and kill" strategy.

"This collaboration allows us to validate our onCARlytics platform in combination with an approved autologous CAR-T product," said Leslie Chong, Managing Director and CEO of Imugene. "We believe Carteyva® which is already approved in blood cancer is an ideal choice, and this initiative enables us to generate impactful data efficiently while exploring a breakthrough treatment paradigm for solid tumours."

With clear go/no-go decision points, and milestones, the collaboration ensures disciplined capital allocation while enabling strategic flexibility.