Optimizing CD19 CAR T Cell Therapy
Honolulu: At the BMT Tandem meeting that ended yesterday in Hawaii, one of the hot topics was CAR T Cell Therapy. This should, perhaps, come as no surprise to readers given that bone marrow transplanters are not only the investigators doing the clinical trials, but will be the initial target market for this product.
One of the pioneers in the development of adoptive cellular therapy is Michael Jensen (pictured) who is Director, Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research at Seattle Children’s Research Institute (SCRI) and the Sinegal Endowed Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Dr Jensen is also a scientific co-founder of Juno Therapeutics, Inc.
He’s been doing research in the field for over 20 years, and told me that not so long ago there would only be a handful of people in the room for a CAR T cell presentation!
In a plenary scientific session at the Tandem meeting, he presented to over 3,000 attendees on “CD19-Specific CAR T Cells as a Post-ALLO HSCT Relapse Salvage Therapy.”
After his presentation, he kindly spoke with BSB. This post describes some of the key take-homes from his talk.