Biotech Strategy Blog

Commentary on Science, Innovation & New Products with a focus on Oncology, Hematology & Immunotherapy

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Challenges and Opportunities of CAR T Cell Therapy in CLL

Dr David Porter, U Penn

Dr David Porter, U Penn

Honolulu: The BMT Tandem meeting kicked off yesterday with an excellent plenary session on “CAR T Cell Therapy: CD19 and Beyond.” The three presenters were:

  • David Porter (University of Pennsylvania) CAR T cells for Leukemia
  • Martin Pule (UCL) Building a CAR
  • Michael Jensen (Seattle Children’s) CD19-Specific CAR T Cells as a Post-Allo HSCT Relapse Salvage Therapy

Dr Porter (pictured) is Director of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at the University of Pennsylvania. I spoke with him after his talk. This post gives a quick overview of some of the key points I took away.

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What’s hot at BMT Tandem 2016 in Honolulu?

North Shore Surf Shop SignAloha! The BMT Tandem meeting (Twitter #BMTTandem16) is underway in Honolulu, and we’re looking forward to the scientific presentations that start tomorrow, Thursday.

This preview highlights some of the presentations that may be of interest to subscribers at the meeting over the next 5 days when they’re not surfing waves at the North Shore! The meeting ends on Monday Feb 22.

If you can’t make it to Hawaii, then I expect the BMT community will be sharing updates from the meeting via Twitter. Do follow: @DrMiguelPerales, @DrKomanduri, @sgiraltbmtdoc, @DrMvandenBrink, @BldCancerDoc, @MSKBMTTandem & others (this is not intended to be a definitive list, only a starting point).

We won’t be doing a daily blog, but will be generating some commentary and analysis, as the opportunity presents.

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What’s driving the GvHD Landscape? #BMTTandem16

Aloha! If you have plans to be in Honolulu next week for #BMTTandem16, then one of the “must do” sights is the walk to the top of Diamond Head. It towers over Waikiki and is a major landmark for anyone travelling in an easterly direction.

Waikiki from Diamond Head

One way to get there is to start early and take the #23 The Bus ($2.50 fare, exact change) from Ala Moana & Waikiki to the state park entrance. The path starts off deceptively easy, kicks in with some uneven surfaces and hits you with a pile of steps near the top. Sensible shoes, water and sunscreen recommended.

The spectacular views at the end are well worth it, especially if you catch the sunrise/early morning light and manage to avoid arriving at the summit at the same time as busloads of Japanese tourists with the same idea. It’s a popular attraction!

One of the reasons for going to the top of hills and mountains is to see the “big picture” of the landscape below. In writing and reporting on the latest innovations in biomedicine, we often focus on the results of one trial or news from one company; yet it’s also important to see how the pieces of the jigsaw fit together.

That’s why pharmaceutical marketers and new produce development specialists often commission custom reports that review the strategic landscape in a therapeutic area.

As part of our coverage of #BMTTandem16, we’re taking a look at some of the strategic trends and drivers in the Graft versus Host Disease (GvHD) space.

It’s an area of unmet medical need and market opportunity.

Anyone with an interest in allogeneic “off the shelf” CAR-T cell therapy should already appreciate the significance of GvHD as a potential complication. If you don’t, then you’ve not been reading BSB…

This post is not intended to be a substitute for a landscape report, but offers some top line thoughts on some of the strategic drivers to look out for.

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Immunotherapy for Lymphoma using T cells Targeting Multiple Tumor-Associated Antigens

Aloha! It will soon be time to pack your Hawaiian shirts for the forthcoming BMT Tandem Meeting in Hawaii (Twitter #BMTTandem16 – what a long hashtag!!)

ASBMT_2016WebBanner_b

Commonly known as “Tandem,” it’s the combined annual meetings of the Center for International Blood & Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) and the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (ASBMT).

Hawaii is great location for a meeting in February, and one that I’m sure will generate a lot of envy for those who can’t attend and are stuck in the winter cold and chill. Who said we don’t go the “extra mile” for BSB subs?

One of the presentations I’m looking forward to hearing at Tandem is by Ann Leen, PhD, who is an Associate Professor at Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr Leen will be talking about “Immunotherapy for Lymphoma using T cells Targeting Multiple Tumor-Associated Antigens.”

At last December’s ASH annual meeting, Dr Leen presented preliminary data with this novel approach in patients with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (HL) and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). After her ASH presentation, she kindly spoke to BSB.

This post is part of our post-meeting ASH15 coverage, and our ongoing coverage of some of the exciting developments in immuno-oncology.  In case you missed it, do check out the ASH interview with Seattle Genetics CEO Clay Siegall, PhD.

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Why didn’t Ipilimumab plus Chemo work in Metastatic Urothelial Cancer?

Streets of San FranciscoOne of the interesting immuno-oncology presentations at the recent ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium held in San Francisco from Jan 7 – 9, 2016 was presented by Dr Matt Galsky (Mount Sinai, New York).

Dr Galsky presented the results of a phase II trial of gemcitabine plus cisplatin plus ipilimumab in patients with metastatic urothelial cancer: HCRN GU-148 (Abstract 357).

The trial failed to reach its primary endpoint of showing a 20% increase in 1 year overall survival by the addition of ipilimumab compared to historical data for Gem + Cis in this patient population.

Many in the media don’t write up what is in essence “negative” data, but this trial is highly informative for those with an interest in urothelial cancer and in the optimal strategy for cancer immunotherapy. The GU16 discussant Dr Elizabeth Plimack (Fox Chase) raised many questions that merit consideration by those in the field.

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Potential of a Novel Non-Invasive Liquid Biopsy Prostate Cancer Biomarker

San Francisco Cable CarWe’re continuing our post-meeting coverage of the 2016 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium (ASCO GU) that took place earlier this month in San Francisco.

In this post we’re taking a look at the results of a clinical trial with a non-invasive liquid biopsy which in a cohort of patients with prostate cancer identified increased risk of death on abiraterone and enzalutamide, but not taxane chemotherapy.

What struck me listening to this presentation was the simple elegance of an approach, which the presenter likened to the equivalent of “facial recognition” of prostate cancer cells.

As the ASCO GU discussant noted, this could have an impact on clinical trial design, potentially leading to more rapid prostate cancer drug approvals.

Subscribers can login to read more about a biomarker approach, that if validated in a prospective trial, could help identify the optimal sequencing of prostate cancer drugs for patients.

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A New Race to Market in Advanced Prostate Cancer

Coit Tower San FranciscoAt the recent ASCO 2016 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium (ASCO GU) that took place in San Francisco the week before the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference (JPM), one of the noteworthy presentations was on a novel target for men with advanced prostate cancer.

While JPM may have been a “dud” for many, several companies did take the opportunity to update and discuss their corporate strategy going into 2016, which gave a surprising amount to comment on in our 3 blog posts from the meeting: JPM Day 1, JPM Day 2, JPM Day 3.

In this post we look at the “take homes” from the ASCO GU presentation, and what looks like it could be a new race to market.

It’s good to see novel targets for men with advanced prostate cancer, and potential new treatment options on the horizon!

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Day 3 Highlights from JP Morgan Healthcare Conference #JPM16

San Francisco JPM16 Day 3It’s Day 3 of the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, and we hope that you’re enjoying our commentary and analysis around some of the presentations & news each day. If you’re reading this and aren’t a subscriber already, then why not become one?

We’re not offering a substitute for watching a company presentation yourself, they’re freely available by webcast and several companies have also put up their presentations up on their websites, but in a world awash with information competing for time and attention, we hope we’ve teased out a few of the noteworthy points.

Yesterday, on the Day 2 post we commented on $AMGN, $RHBBY, $BMY, $SGMO, $IMGN and more.

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Highlights of #JPM16 Healthcare Conference Day 2

San Francisco JPM16 Day 2It’s Tuesday at the 2016 JP Morgan Healthcare conference in San Francisco (Twitter #JPM16).

Each day of #JPM16 we’re doing a rolling blog post which we’re updating throughout the day with commentary and insights on the company presentations we’re covering.

While we’re not giving a blow-by-blow account, many companies have the slides readily available, we will be commenting on noteworthy news, and what we learn about corporate strategy going into 2016.

For those of you who like to catch up with the final summary of each day’s highlights, you can read yesterday’s Day 1 synopsis here and our interview with Seattle Genetics CEO, Clay Siegall here.

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Highlights of #JPM16 Healthcare Conference Day 1

San Francisco JPM16 Day 1It’s Day 1 of the annual pilgrimage to San Francisco for the JP Morgan Healthcare conference. In light of the success of the daily rolling blogs we’ve done around the conferences we cover, for the first time we’re doing a rolling blog for each day of #JPM16.

Throughout the day (schedule permitting) we’ll be updating the post with commentary around noteworthy news.

Company presentations mentioned in this post include: $PBYI, $CELG, $GILD, $INCY, $SGEN, $MDVN. There’s also commentary on several of the deals announced by Roche, Juno, Novartis, Sanofi, AstraZeneca & Merck.

If you want to follow along yourself, here’s the link to the JPM16 webcasts & conference agenda.

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