·
The study has
been initiated at Hospital La Fe in Valencia and Hospital Clínic Barcelona, two
internationally recognized refence centers for acute leukemias and advanced
therapies.
·
A CAR-T
therapy targeting the CD84 protein—an emerging therapeutic target in
hematologic malignancies characterized by its high expression in leukemic
cells—will be evaluated for the first time.
Gyala Therapeutics
, a clinical-stage biotechnology
company focused on developing first-in-class cell therapies for the treatment
of hematological malignancies, today announced the initiation of a Phase I/IIa
clinical trial of
GYA01
following authorization from the Spanish Agency
of Medicines and Medical Devices (AEMPS).
In this trial, GYA01 will be
evaluated in patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R)
acute myeloid
leukemia (AML)
or
T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL)
, two
diseases associated with a poor prognosis and limited therapeutic options in
this clinical setting.
GYA01 is a CAR-T cell therapy, being
developed
to address this critical unmet medical need
. With GYA01, a
patient’s T lymphocytes are genetically modified to recognize and eliminate
leukemic cells expressing CD84, in contrast to currently approved CAR-T
therapies that target CD19 (B-cell malignancies) or BCMA (multiple myeloma).
GYA01 has shown strong activity in preclinical models of AML and T-ALL, with results
published in the journal
Leukemia
in 2025. Currently, there are no
approved CAR-T therapies for either of these indications.
The study will be conducted at two
leading hospital centers with extensive experience in the clinical management
of acute leukemias:
Hospital La Fe
in Valencia, with
Dr. Pau
Montesinos
serving as Principal Investigator and Study Coordinator, and
Hospital Clínic
Barcelona
, a center with a long-standing track
record in advanced cell therapies, with
Dr. Jordi Esteve
as Principal
Investigator.
This is an interventional, open-label, single-arm clinical
trial designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and preliminary efficacy
of GYA01 in patients with AML and T-ALL. The study includes a dose-escalation
phase followed by an expansion phase and has already begun recruiting patients.
This milestone represents a significant step in a
technology transfer process that has enabled Gyala Therapeutics, as a spin-off
of Hospital Clínic Barcelona and the
Fundació de Recerca Clínic
Barcelona–Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS)
,
to capitalize on the experience of these institutions in the development and
manufacturing of CAR-T therapies.
Gyala Therapeutics and Hospital La Fe have received
€3.7
million in funding
from Spain’s Ministry of Science, Innovation and
Universities through the
CPP 2024
program to conduct the study.
Dr. Pau Montesinos
highlights the clinical relevance of the study: “This
clinical trial represents a meaningful opportunity to offer new therapeutic
alternatives to patients with acute leukemias who do not respond to
conventional treatments. The identification of CD84 as a therapeutic target
opens an innovative pathway that could extend the reach of CAR-T therapies to
diseases for which effective options have not previously existed. In addition,
this trial represents a new challenge for Hospital La Fe, as we have had to
implement a complex accreditation process to enable manufacturing of this
medicinal product at our facilities.”
Dr. Manuel Guerreiro
, from Hospital La Fe and the trial’s Clinical Specialist,
emphasizes that “this study is an example of cooperation between public
hospitals and private companies to bring innovative therapies to patients with
AML and T-ALL—very severe diseases for which there is an urgent need of new
treatment strategies, such as CAR-T cells.”
Dr. Nela Klein-González
, Medical Director of Gyala Therapeutics and who led
the preclinical development of GYA01, notes: “The authorization to initiate
this trial reflects the robustness of a preclinical program developed with a
high level of scientific rigor and oriented from the outset toward future
clinical evaluation. The initiation of the study will allow us to explore its
therapeutic potential in a setting of high unmet medical need.”
Claudio
Santos, PhD
, CEO of
Gyala Therapeutics, states: “The initiation of the first clinical trial of
GYA01 represents a decisive step in our strategy to develop innovative cellular
therapies for patients with aggressive leukemias who lack effective therapeutic
alternatives. This milestone marks the company’s transition into the clinical
stage and the beginning of a phase focused on the rigorous and efficient
execution of the study, with the objective of generating early clinical data.”
About
Gyala Therapeutics
Gyala Therapeutics
is a clinical-stage biotechnology company
focused on the development of innovative cell therapies for the treatment of
hematologic cancers with unmet medical need. The company is a spin-off of
Hospital
Clínic Barcelona
and the
Fundació de Recerca Clínic Barcelona–Institut
d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS),
founded in 2020.
To date, the company has raised €11 million through equity investments from
Invivo Partners
,
Nara Capital
, and
CDTI Innvierte
, as well as funding from
national innovation programs such as NEOTEC and Public-Private Collaboration
Projects. More information is available at: