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CHIMERIC THERAPEUTICS LTD (CHM) - Cancer Cell Therapy Breakthroughs

• Andrew Musgrave

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A tiny dose that holds cancer at bay for a year, scans that turn solid tumours into “donuts,” and a bold trial where patients receive cell therapy before chemo—this conversation with Dr Rebecca McQualter, CEO of Chimeric Therapeutics, is packed with data and real-world impact. We dig into the CHM CDH17 CAR T program as it clears dose level two with clean safety and early signs of activity across colorectal, mid and hindgut neuroendocrine, and select pancreatic cancers. The durability story stands out: a patient on the lowest dose maintained stable disease for 12 months with detectable CAR T cells and no further treatment, trading chemo sessions for time with family and a long-postponed trip to the Redwoods.

We also unpack the CHM Core NK platform for blood cancers, an off-the-shelf approach with a unique frontline design at MD Anderson Cancer Center. By delivering engineered NK cells first and chemotherapy second in frail, high-risk AML patients, the study is seeing three complete responses and one partial response trending to complete, alongside stronger persistence signals. For clinicians and investors, this sequencing could reshape how frontline care is conceived when transplant isn’t an option, offering a path that prioritises efficacy while preserving patient resilience.

On strategy, we talk portfolio breadth and focus: four clinical-stage programs, yet concentrated execution on the first-in-class CHM CDH17 asset where unmet need and market potential intersect. With only five patients left to finish phase one, FDA-cleared phase one/two mechanics to accelerate, and active partnering underway for phase two, the near-term roadmap is clear. We close with how a lean team, refreshed board, and disciplined spend power complex cell therapy programs without losing sight of the person behind each data point. If you care about CAR T innovation, NK cell persistence, and rethinking cells-before-chemo in AML, this is your next listen. Subscribe, share with a friend who follows oncology, and leave a quick review to tell us what you want answered next.

Andrew Musgrave

Welcome again to ASX Briefs, where we speak with leaders from some of Australia's most innovative small cap listed companies on the ASX. And today we're joined by Dr. Rebecca McQualter, the CEO of Chimeric Therapeutics, an Australian leader in cell therapy, focused on bringing the promise of cell therapy to life for more patients with cancer. 
 
 Rebecca, thanks for joining me today and welcome to the ASX Briefs Podcast.

 

Rebecca McQualter

Thank you so much for having me.

 

Andrew Musgrave

Now, Rebecca, for listeners that may be unfamiliar with Chimeric Therapeutics, can you provide a brief overview of the company?

 

Rebecca McQualter

Yes, so Chimeric Therapeutics is a five-year-old company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, and we have a broad portfolio of three different assets that are all in the clinic currently.

 

Andrew Musgrave

Now you recently announced some very encouraging news from your CHM CDH17 phase one, two clinical trial. So, can you elaborate on the key findings from dose level two?

 

Rebecca McQualter

We're really excited about what we're seeing from our lead programme CHM CDH17. This is a cell therapy targeted colon cancer mid and hi gut nets, which sit in the middle of the stomach kind of area, and also some pancreatic cancers. So, we're very delighted to see that we've reached dose level two. It's well tolerated and safe, which is the first thing that we need to see, but we've also started to see some tumours shrink. Now I was lucky enough to be in Boston last week where we had an investigator meeting, and I was delighted to see some patient scans where the tumours were previously whole and now, they kind of look like donuts. So, something's happening. We know that the CAR T cell therapy is working its way eating through the tumours, and we're delighted with what we're seeing so far. So, every patient in dose level two at the moment has achieved stable disease, which is really exciting. So, we're approved now to go up to dose level three, and we can't wait to start.

 

 

Andrew Musgrave

Okay, and just touching on that, the update also mentioned promising durability. So, what are you seeing in the patients from the earlier dose level?

 

Rebecca McQualter

Yeah, so this is really promising. So, we had a patient who was dosed 12 months ago. She was given the lowest cell dose, which was 50 million cells. Now, if I put that into colloquial terms, that's like sneezing on you. So not very many cells. She's actually had stable disease for 12 months now. But what's really exciting is we can still see CAR T cells roaming around her body, which is fantastic, 12 months after she had the dose. I think the most exciting thing when I met her in Philadelphia two weeks ago, she hasn't been to the hospital for 12 months outside of her scans. She hasn't had any other treatment, she hasn't been on chemo, and she's so excited not to be in the hospital. And so, she was delighted to thank me and my team for the hard work we've done to get her that therapy. But she was lucky enough to take her sons on an adventure of a lifetime to the Redwoods in California, and she's been dying to do that for such a long time, and now she's not tethered to the hospital at all, and she was so grateful. So, 12 months stable disease. But I think the most important thing is the positive impact that we've seen on her life, that she's not on chemo and constantly unwell, which is very exciting.

 

Andrew Musgrave

Okay, and following that, you released more positive news this time for your CHM Core NK program. So, what was the significance of the data presented at the Society of Hematology Oncology annual meeting?

 

Rebecca McQualter

Yeah, so that that program is an off-the-shelf product where we take healthy donor cells, we engineer them, manufacture them, and then give them to patients with blood cancer. So completely different setting. And we basically presented at the Society of Hematology Oncology annual meeting some of the persistence data that we have. We can see that these natural killer cells are lasting in the body a little bit longer than we've seen before. But we've recently commenced frontline dosing. So, as we're aware, this is the first cell therapy trial that's giving the cells first and then the chemo second. And so, we haven't seen that from any other trials so far. But what we've seen from that, we've seen three complete responses, and a complete response means that a patient doesn't have cancer anymore, and we've seen one partial response where it looks like that will develop into a complete response over time, which is quite common in blood cancer.

 

Andrew Musgrave

Okay, and the headline mentioned additional complete responses. So, can you share the response rate you're seeing in the high-risk frontline AML patients?

 

Rebecca McQualter

Yeah, so those were the ones that I just spoke about, so we can move that answer to this question. But basically, with the frontline dosing, as I mentioned, this is the first study that we're aware that's giving cell therapy first. And so, these patients are quite frail, they're not eligible for a stem cell transplant. So, we really want to make sure they get the best care first up. Having chemo first up will only be detrimental to their long-term care. So, we're giving them the cells first up. So, this is happening in Houston, Texas at MD Anderson Cancer Centre, and this is an investigator-sponsored study, which means that they're paying for everything, which is fantastic for us. But we've seen three complete responses and one partial response. So, a complete response means that the patient no longer has cancer, and a partial response means that you can see some kind of blastic cells there, but it's usually on its way to a complete response, it just takes a little bit longer. What's exciting is we're seeing these cells persist in the body for a little bit longer than we've seen before. So, we're really happy with the CHM Core NK program.

 

Andrew Musgrave

Okay, and the company has a broad portfolio with four clinical stage programs. So, how does this diversification from the first in-class CHM CDH17 to the Core NK platform and CHM CLTX for brain cancer position the company?

 

Rebecca McQualter

So, we're really positioned well now. I think we're really focused on our lead asset, CHM CDH17. So that market potential for that particular asset is quite big. It's $27 billion currently and it's growing at an exponential rate, unfortunately. Colon cancer is being diagnosed in patients between the ages of 20 and 40 years old at quite a rapid rate, which is unfortunate. And a lot of our patients are actually within that age group. Our first patient was 28 years old. Our most recent patient that I described with 12 months stable disease, she's only 43 and so we're really excited about what we're seeing with CHM, CDH 17. With a broad portfolio, we have lots of shots on goal. However, we're really channelling all of our resources into our lead program.

 

Andrew Musgrave

Okay, and what are then immediate next steps for CHM CDH 17?

 

Rebecca McQualter

Yeah, so we've completed dose level two now. There's one patient that's uh just about to commence the as patient number 10, she's just about to be dosed, and we're ready to move up to dose level three. So, we've been cleared, we've been deemed safe to move up to dose level three, and we're only five patients away from the end of phase one. Because we have a phase 1/2 approval from the FDA, we don't need to go back to the FDA for any types of approval. So, we're right to move forward when we can. And so as soon as we find a dose that is safe and tolerable, but also, we can see a bit more tumour shrinkage, that's a dose will progress into phase two. I think for Chimeric Therapeutics, we're really keen to find a partner to help us move through phase two, and I'm actively working on that now with my team, which is great.

 

Andrew Musgrave

Okay, now just to wrap things up, what's your key message to investors about Chimeric's capability to deliver on these complex cell therapy programs?

 

Rebecca McQualter

So Chimeric Therapeutics is in a really unique position. We've got a very nimble team. I've spent the last 18 months reducing all of the costs, and so we're really focused at putting all of our resources into the clinical trial program. I've got world-renowned experts on my team, and we're a nimble team of four, but we get the job done. So, we're really positioned for success over the next 12 months. We've recently had a board refresh, and that will continue over the next couple of months. But as we move into February and March next year at the end of Q1, we'll be settled in and ready to go.

 

Andrew Musgrave

Okay, well, Rebecca, it's been great to chat today, so thanks for your time, and we look forward to further updates from Chimeric Therapeutics in the upcoming months.

 

Rebecca McQualter

Thank you so much.

 

Andrew Musgrave

That concludes this episode of ASX Briefs. Don't forget to subscribe, and we look forward to catching you on our next episode.