How NK Cell Therapy Could Bring Advanced Cancer Treatment to Community Clinics
Indapta Therapeutics reports 90%+ tumor marker reduction in early trials—without the dangerous side effects of CAR T-cell therapies.
Dr. Mark Frohlich, CEO of Indapta Therapeutics, is leading efforts to bring safe, effective NK cell therapies to community oncology clinics (courtesy photo).
EAST LANSING, Mich. (May 13, 2025) — In a medical landscape where cancer treatments often require travel to major centers and come with serious risks, Indapta Therapeutics is charting a different course. In early clinical trials, the company’s natural killer (NK) cell therapy achieved a striking reduction—over 90 percent—in tumor markers for multiple myeloma patients. Just as notable: these results came without the severe, treatment-limiting side effects associated with CAR T-cell therapies.
"What's striking is that, unlike CAR T-cell therapies, NK cell therapies haven't shown the same severe side effects," explains Dr. Mark Frohlich, CEO of Indapta. "Those side effects have made CAR T-cell therapy risky and limited its use to specialized treatment centers."
Designed for Community Clinics
Indapta’s approach, by contrast, could be administered in community oncology clinics, where roughly 80 percent of U.S. cancer patients receive treatment. That shift could dramatically expand access to cell therapies previously out of reach for most patients.
The company’s therapy is based on a specific, highly potent subset of NK cells originally discovered at Michigan State University by Dr. Sungjin Kim, one of Indapta’s scientific founders. The MSU Research Foundation is an investor through its affiliated venture funds.
Promising Trial Results and Fast Track Status
In a presentation at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer last fall, Indapta reported that most myeloma patients showed significant drops in a key tumor marker known as M protein, with some reductions exceeding 90 percent. The company is now enrolling new patient cohorts and testing combination strategies with monoclonal antibodies—anti-CD30 for myeloma and anti-CD20 for lymphoma.
The FDA has granted Fast Track designation for the program, signaling the therapy’s potential to address an unmet medical need and providing a faster path to regulatory feedback and review.
Expanding Programs and Industry Interest
Indapta is also pursuing clinical applications in autoimmune diseases and acute myeloid leukemia, with support from the Focus Fund and a collaboration with Sanofi, which is evaluating the therapy in combination with its FDA-approved antibody, Sarclisa.
With multiple programs in progress and new data expected later this year, Indapta’s platform is attracting growing attention from both the medical community and major pharmaceutical partners.
If later-stage trials continue to validate its safety and efficacy, this approach could help redefine where—and how—patients access the most advanced cancer therapies.
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This article is based on an interview with Mark Frohlich, CEO of Indapta Therapeutics, on the MSU Research Foundation Podcast. You can listen to the full conversation on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.