Appia Bio is focused on developing innovative cell therapies that leverage the unique properties of invariant T cells, particularly NKT cells, to address the challenges posed by cancer heterogeneity and the tumor microenvironment. Their proprietary ACUA platform enables the engineering and scaling of CAR-NKT cells, which are designed to be both potent and universal. This platform allows for the production of allogeneic, off-the-shelf therapies that can generate thousands of doses of CAR-NKT cells, which can be cryopreserved and readily available for patients at clinics. This approach contrasts with traditional autologous CAR-T therapies, which are individualized and often reliant on the patient's own immune cells, making them more expensive and variable in efficacy.

The ACUA platform utilizes healthy hematopoietic stem cells to differentiate into rare but effective innate-like T cells, such as NKT and gamma delta T cells. These cells are engineered with chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) to specifically target cancer cells. By starting with stem cells, Appia Bio aims to avoid the pitfalls of mature cell exhaustion that can occur with other allogeneic therapies. This innovative methodology positions Appia Bio at the forefront of cell therapy development, with the potential to create transformative treatments for both hematologic and solid tumors, ultimately enhancing patient outcomes in cancer care.

United States

Appia Bio is an early stage biotechnology company based in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 2020, Appia Bio is focused on discovering and developing engineered allogeneic cell therapies across a broad array of indications with a scalable technology platform that increases access for patients. With its ACUA (Appia Cells Utilized for Allogeneic) technology platform, Appia Bio leverages the biology of lymphocyte development with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and T-cell receptor (TCR) gene engineering to generate CAR-engineered invariant natural killer T (CAR-iNKT) cell subtypes from hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs).

Appia Bio

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