Biotech Strategy Blog

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

Posts from the ‘CAR-T’ category

Will CAR T cells give new therapies for NHL and CLL a run for their money?

During the recent American Society of Hematology meeting, much of the focus in immuno-oncology was squarely on the pediatric and adult data using the chimerica antigen receptor T cell product being developed by Novartis, CTL019, in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP, not to be confused with the chemotherapy regimen!) and U Penn, respectively. We wrote about that data earlier this year.

There are, hovever, other interesting CAR T cell therapies in clinical development, including those from Juno (based on the MSK and Fred Hutchinson partnership), Bluebird in partnership with Celgene and one that actually had data at ASH, which didn’t receive much attention from the NCI and Kite Pharma. This therapy was evaluated in a trial of non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (NHL) patients.

To learn more insights on this intriguing topic, subscribers can log-in or you can purchase access to BSB Premium Content. 

This content is restricted to subscribers

ASH 2013 Stunning ALL data with Novartis CTL019 CAR Therapy

One of the fun aspects of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) conference last month was interviewing several thought leaders and CEOs about the latest developments that were emerging rapidly almost every single day.  Now, some medical meetings can be rather dreary if there’s no new or exciting data to pique the interest of the foot weary attendees, who tend to run on coffee and adrenalin for four days, but this ASH was rather different.

Looking at the program the first morning, I realised that I hadn’t felt so much anticipation since the 1999 meeting, when the phase I imatinib (Gleevec) data was presented in the plenary session by Brian Druker.  This time around there was a lot of buzz in so many areas from CLL and NHL to myeloma and ALL, it was pretty exciting to run from session to and see many packed rooms filled with an air of expectancy.  One evening, I hesitated at the top of an escalator and dithered over which of three very interesting sessions to dash to, as a bunch of researchers crashed into me all distracted by the exactly same dilemma!

If many of us could have made one request of the ASH organising committee it was clearly start offering a virtual meeting for all the oral sessions, something ASCO do incredibly well.

At ASH if you miss a presentation, it’s gone forever.

This is quite a pain if you really wanted to see the data from Agent X in CLL, Compound Y in CAR T cells and Drug Z in myeloma, as well as the one you actually attended.  All those sessions ran simultaneously.  It also means the sessions are still running at 7pm (yes, they were still packed even at that hour!) and many of us had an early start with 7am sessions or meetings.

The huge distances between rooms (#blisterruns), coupled with a stubborn insistence in putting almost all the oral sessions on Monday and Tuesday, together with long waits between interesting sessions over the weekend, makes for a very frazzled and disjointed schedule. Patience and stamina are the name of the game here.

Here we highlight our latest thought leader interview on CAR T cell therapy.

To learn more about these sentiments and insights, subscribers can log-in or you can purchase access to BSB Premium Content below… 

This content is restricted to subscribers

Juno Therapeutics takes on Penn in dispute over St Jude Chimeric Antigen Receptor Patent

The Inquirer yesterday reported on Philly.com that start-up Juno Therapeutics (Juno) are now in control of a legal dispute between St Jude Children’s Hospital (St Jude) and the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) over chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) intellectual property that contributed to the development of CTL019, licensed by Penn to Novartis. Thanks to @lomu_j for sharing this news on Twitter.

According to the Inquirer, last month Juno entered an agreement with St Jude to commercialize their CAR T-cell technology, which gave them the right to “control, pursue and defend” the dispute between Penn and St Jude.  On December 18, Juno’s intervention was approved in Federal District Court in Philadelphia.

(Update Jan 10: Zack Seward (@ZackSeward) provides additional commentary on WHYY Philadelphia newsworks on “The high-stakes legal fight over a ‘cancer cure from Penn.’ He reports that St Jude have every confidence in their patent.

 

To learn more insights on this intriguing topic, subscribers can log-in or you can purchase access to BSB Premium Content. 

This content is restricted to subscribers

Juno Therapeutics takes on Novartis and seeks to revolutionize the treatment of blood cancers – an interview with Renier Brentjens

One of the benefits of attending the American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting that finished earlier this week in New Orleans is the opportunity to talk to experts who are at the forefront of their field.

Picture of Dr Renier Brentjens, Director of Cell Therapeutics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Picture Credit: MSKCC

Renier Brentjens, MD PhD,  is Director of Cell Therapeutics at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and one of the scientific founders of Juno Therapeutics (Juno), a start-up company that recently raised $120M in Series A financing.

Luke Timmerman wrote about the company launch on Xconomy and you can read the Dec 4 press release from Juno here.

juno-therapeuticsLike a modern day David versus Goliath, Juno Therapeutics has set itself up to compete with Novartis in the exciting world of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) modified T cell therapy that has already shown dramatic results in pediatric and adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

A lot of media attention has focused on the Novartis collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania to develop a novel therapy using CAR modified T cells (CART-19/CTL019) that can be directed against tumor cells that express the CD19 antigen.

The potential promise of CAR modified T cell therapies has already led to a flurry of law suits between the St Jude Children’s Hospital (St Jude) and University of Pennyslvania (U Penn).

According to the Daily Pennsylvanian, U Penn are seeking to invalidate a St Jude patent while St Jude have claimed violations of the terms of a material transfer agreement that allowed access by Carl June (U Penn) to work done by Dario Campana (St Jude).

It will be interesting to see what intellectual property Novartis actually owns and whether they did a thorough enough due diligence prior to licensing the rights to CTL019 from U Penn.

To learn more insights on this intriguing topic, subscribers can log-in or you can purchase access to BSB Premium Content. 

This content is restricted to subscribers

ASH 2013 Preview: will new Seattle startup Juno Therapeutics push Novartis and U Penn in CART?

Last night Luke Timmerman of Xconomy posted a nice article on the formation of a new Seattle startup, Juno Therapeutics, which aims to develop the chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy (CAR-T) based on autologous T cells developed by Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) in New York, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center (FHCC) and the Seattle Children’s Hospital, both in Seattle.

Juno secured $120M in Series A funding, which is pretty good for a two month old startup and shows how much excitement there is for this exciting technology.

How does this new development impact the CART landscape and in particular, the U Penn and Novartis partnership?

To learn more insights on this intriguing topic, subscribers can log-in or you can purchase access to BSB Premium Content. 

This content is restricted to subscribers

error: Content is protected !!