Biotech Strategy Blog

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

Posts tagged ‘CIML40 Marseille’

Manipulating the Microbiota to Improve Clinical Outcomes. An interview with Eric Pamer

ciml40-marseille-luminyThere is a lot of interest in manipulating the microbiota to improve clinical outcomes – there was a whole session dedicated to it earlier this week at the CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR international cancer immunotherapy conference in New York.

At the recent scientific meeting to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Centre d’Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy (CIML40) in the South of France, Dr Eric Pamer spoke about his research into microbiota-mediated defense against intestinal infection.

Dr Eric Pamer presenting at CIML40

Photo Credit: ATGC Partners

Dr Pamer is an infectious diseases expert at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer in New York, where he runs a laboratory (The Eric Pamer Lab) focused on the role of the microbiota in immune system development and in defense against antibiotic resistant pathogens.

The gazillions of bugs in our gut, collectively the microbiota, interact with the innate immune system.

Researchers have shown that the effectiveness of antibiotics and the type of immune response we generate depends on the type of bacteria and their diversity in our gut.

ciml40Readers may recall the interview we did with Dr Marcel van Brink (@DrMvandenBrink) at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 2014 annual meeting, where he talked about his research into how gut bacteria can impact survival post allogeneic bone marrow transplant. See post: Can you reduce Graft Versus Host Disease GvHD by regulating gut bacteria?

Almost a year ago in November 2015, researchers and the pharmaceutical industry were both galvanized by work from Laurence Zitvogel and Tom Gajewski labs, published simultaneously in Science. See post: Gut Bacteria Impact Checkpoint Inhibitor Efficacy.

Not only could the results from mice experiments be influenced by the gut bacteria they had, but the microbiome could also impact the effectiveness of checkpoint inhibitors.

You can listen to Dr Gajewski on Novel Targets Podcast (Episode 9: Targeting the Microbiome) summarize the research from his lab published in Science.

ebmt17

Next year’s European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation Congress (#EBMT17) will be held in Marseille.

Given the impact the microbiome has on post-transplant GvHD and survival, I expect we’ll hear more about this at the Congress. Marseille is well worth a visit if the opportunity presents.

Marseille Vieux Port

In case you missed them do check out our recent posts from the Marseille Immunopôle and #CIML40:

In the meantime, our latest expert interview with Dr Pamer covers his wide ranging thoughts on a number of issues, including the impact of the microbiota on the innate and adaptive immune systems and where he sees the field going in the future.

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HalioDX CEO Vincent Fert outlines commercial strategy for Immunoscore in US and Europe

Marseille – When it comes to biotech clusters for immunotherapy, Marseille, the second city of France, has to be right up there along with Boston, San Francisco in the United States and the “Golden Triangle” of Oxford, Cambridge and London in the UK.

ciml40I’m here in Marseille thanks to an invitation from Professor Eric Vivier to attend the 2-day scientific conference that the Centre d’Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy (CIML) have organized as part of their fortieth anniversary celebrations (1976-2016). It starts today (Twitter #CIML40).

Surrounding CIML in the picturesque national park (Parc National des Calanques), just outside the city, are innovative biotech companies focused on immunology and cancer immunotherapy. The combination of companies, research institutes and academic hospitals in the region has created the Marseille Immunopôle (@Immunopole). The area should already be on your radar if you are following the field.

haliodx

Yesterday, I visited HalioDx (@HalioDx), a start-up company a stone’s throw from CIML. It was founded in 2015 to commercialize Immunoscore, a novel biomarker in colon cancer that can be used to stage patients based on their immune response.

Vincent Fert CEO HalioDx

Vincent Fert, CEO of HalioDx

We’ve been following the work of Dr Jérôme Galon on the blog for some time (see posts from European Cancer Congress 2015 and ASCO 2016), so it was a pleasure to talk to Vincent Fert, CEO (pictured right) and co-founder of HalioDx, about his plans to commercialize Immunoscore in Europe and the United States.

If you want to know more about the science behind Immunoscore, do listen to the recent Novel Targets Podcast (@TargetsPodcast) interview with Dr Galon, where he talks about the data he presented at ASCO 2016.

The field of cancer immunotherapy is making rapid progress. It is already reaching the point where — in order to optimize the chance of a durable response — doctors need to know what a patient’s underlying immune response to cancer is, in order to direct therapy.

Vincent Fert and HalioDx are leading the way with the commercialization of a new diagnostic approach for colon cancer based on a patient’s immune profile. He kindly spoke with BSB about his plans for the company and making Immunoscore available in the US and Europe.

haliodx-marseille-luminy

This is the first post in a mini-series from the Marseille Immunopôle.

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