Immunotherapy firm Cell Medica has been granted orphan drug status in the USA for its drug to treat rare lymphomas. 

The cancer immunotherapy referred to as CMD-003 is under development for Epstein-Barr Virus positive non-Hodgkin lymphomas.  

CMD-003 is produced from patient immune cells taken from a blood sample and sent to the Company’s manufacturing site for activation and expansion through a proprietary procedure developed for commercial-scale use. 

More than 250 patients with research prototypes of CMD-003 and has reported promising clinical results across a range of malignancies.

Meanwhile, treatment of the first patient in the CITADEL Phase II clinical trial investigating the safety and efficacy of CMD-003 for the treatment of aggressive extranodal NK/T cell lymphoma (ENKTCL) in patients who have failed previous therapies has commenced.