Biotech Strategy Blog

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

Posts tagged ‘T cell exhaustion’

Kaizen and the art of improving CAR-T cell performance

Next generation CAR-T cell products are likely to be all the rage soon as companies seek enhanced performance of their agents, not just in terms of safety and manufacturing times, but also with regards to long term outcomes for people with various hematologic malignancies.

The various changes being made are not the same since companies in this niche all seek an edge by evaluating different strategies.

Time to wave the flag on traditional CARs and move onto next gen products?

In part one of this mini-series, we explored some of the improvements being investigated with allogeneic CAR-T cell therapy and now it’s the turn of autologous approaches to be put in the spotlight.

It’s easy to think faster manufacturing is all the rage in order to compete with off-the shelf products whether CARs or T cell engagers, but actually the changes being implemented are much more extensive and wide ranging than this.

Here, we turn our attention and offer an in depth look at what’s behind these novel developments and why they matter through the lens of not only the data presented at ASH, but also an expert interview…

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A novel approach to enhance adoptive cell therapy

This is the penultimate post in our mini-series looking at the potential of immunometabolism for cancer new product development. The initial plans for six posts ended up being revised with a seventh and final article based on an additional thought leader interview.

What’s the immunometabolism prize?

Like a series of postcards from our travels, the aim was to offer a flavor of different approaches in the field, some of which are already being translated and evaluated by biotech companies in clinical trials.

Along the way, like conversations on a journey, we spoke to several scientists working at the forefront of this research. As regular readers know we don’t just interview the ‘great and good’ – the established PI’s but in this series – we also spoke to some emerging up and coming researchers too. Each offered a unique personal perspective on different aspects of metabolism and its potential role in cancer research.

In today’s post, we share an interview with a young researcher working on a novel and intriguing approach, which could improve adoptive cell therapy.

We expect to hear a lot more about many of the immunometabolic strategies we’ve highlighted over the course of coming months, so this is a theme we will return to as new data emerges.

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Potential of Immunometabolism to Enhance CAR T cell therapy

One only has to look at the number of clinical trials to recognize that cell therapies are one of fastest growing areas in terms of cancer new product development.

Over the past several years we’ve seen many changes and improvements in continuous innovation regarding the development of CAR T cells.

What metabolic “treats” do T cells like?

There has been no shortage of novel ways to enhance their targeting, durability, efficacy, or ease of administration. Most of the early strategies have yet to translate into commercial products, but it remains an area an attractive area to investors hoping to repeat the returns seen with Juno and Kite as more competitors enter the field.

In the fifth post in our mini-series on novel approaches in the emerging immunometabolism niche, we’re looking at ways to metabolically reprogram CAR T cells, as well as what the future may hold for the next generation of CAR T cells in this context.

Like a postcard from one’s summer holiday, it’s an opportunity to offer a snapshot at a moment in time from our journey.

We were fortunate to have the opportunity to talk with a researcher who is actively at the forefront of this area. Dr Roddy O’Connor is working with Carl June along with various colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania, and he kindly spoke to BSB about his work.

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Looking for Signals in Cancer Immunometabolism

This is the second postcard in our mini-series on the emerging field of immunometabolism and the translational potential for cancer new product development.

Over the course of three weeks, we’ll be sharing six postcards from our journey, three of which are based around interviews with scientists at the forefront of research in this niche.

What did we learn about immunometabolism at AACR20?

In this latest post we’re taking a look at some of the signals at this year’s virtual AACR annual meeting, which as usual had a wealth of data on offer, offering as it does a window into the future of cancer drug development.

To learn more from our oncology analysis and get a heads up on insights and commentary on the emerging area of immunometabolism, subscribers can log-in or you can click to gain access to BSB Premium Content.

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A Journey into Immunometabolism and its Potential for Cancer Immunotherapy

It’s the dog days of summer in August, traditionally a time when many of us go on holiday and while that’s more challenging in the uncertain times of COVID-19, we at BSB are taking a break for the next three weeks as we recharge/renew for a busy autumn of virtual meetings.

We won’t be writing much about topical news or recent data for the next few weeks, but instead, while we’re taking time out we’ve prepared a six-part mini-series looking at immunometabolism and its potential for cancer immunotherapy.  We’ve run this kind of series every summer over the last couple of years and they’ve worked out rather well.

One of the things we did on Seasons 3 and 4 of the Novel Targets Podcast was to look at topics involving emerging areas of complex research, where we often didn’t know all the answers yet there were emerging data worthy of time and attention. Immunometabolism is certainly a topic which meets those criteria – it’s been on our list to do a deeper dive into for a while and here we are now, with some extended time to make the most of the opportunity to do it some justice.

We’re obviously dating ourselves in that we used to write letters or send postcards to friends and family from our holidays, this mini-series is very much in that style.

To be clear, this is not intended to be a comprehensive review of absolutely everything in the landscape, instead we’ll be reviewing some of the key concepts, showcasing important papers, and highlighting data at AACR20 that caught our attention. There will also be mention of a few emerging biotech companies in the field and for good measure we have three interviews with scientists at the forefront of research, which may have excellent translational potential to the clinic.

By the end of our three-week journey together, hopefully you’ll gain a greater understanding of the new product development potential for cancer immunometabolism and be better placed to put into context new data as it steadily emerges over the coming months.

In this first post, let’s set the scene by looking at immunometabolism and the role it plays in the fate, function, and fitness of T cells.

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Shooting for the stars with next generation cell therapies

Sitges, Spain

Sitges – It’s time to explore new opportunities for cell therapy at the second edition of the European CAR T cell meeting, jointly organized by the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) and European Hematology Association (EHA) kicked off today in Sitges, just south of Barcelona.

With over 1,000 attendees, there’s a lot of interest in the cell therapy field and registrations for the meeting sold out quickly.

That’s not surprising given the impressive line-up of the good and great in the field of cell therapy including Stan Riddell, Carl June, Crystal Mackall, Michel Sadelain, and many others.

There’s also a raft of presentations on the challenges and opportunities for cell therapy, along with presentations of new and emerging approaches in the posters.

In this post you’ll find our reactions and commentary on some of the key messages and insights that emerged and takeaways from the first day at the CAR-T meeting.

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New developments in immunotherapy from WCLC19

A rare dry spell in Barcelona as the clouds roll in bringing yet more rain

Barcelona – While the weather for the World Congress on Lung Cancer (WCLC) has been largely gloomy with plenty of rainy spells, there’s much good news to report on the clinical front.

After yesterday’s review of the Amgen KRAS inhibitor data in G12C mutation positive patients receiving AMG 510, it’s now time to turn our attention to immunotherapy developments with several important trial readouts and in-depth analyses to discuss.

We will be posting a separate summary of the key highlights on targeted therapy, but first let’s consider what we learned on the immunotherapy front, including some of the science behind it all…

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ASH18 Highlights from Day 2

For today’s post, we’ve curated our individual highlights from the tsunami of data that flew thick and fast yesterday between science sessions, oral presentations and poster hall gems.

There were some pleasant surprises in the mix, to be sure, plus the weather brightened up immeasurably!

Yesterday’s lunch time ASH Dash was quieter than usual

Having whittled the number of trial highlights for review and critique down to thirteen key insights and learnings, what made our joint list?

To find out more, check out the post below!

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Update on CAR T cell therapies at CICON18

A warm welcome for Nobel Laureate Dr Jim Allison at CICON18

With all the furore and excitement over Dr Jim Allison’s Nobel prize award that hit CICON18 on Monday, it would be fair to say it was the highlight of the conference for many and it was pretty cool to be there in New York at the time.

Aside from the external news, there were also some intriguing developments to report on the CAR T cell therapy front – you might be forgiven for thinking that there’s not much new to say with two products now approved, but I have to point out that this is a very active area of research and there’s much going on here that is well worth highlighting.

Cell therapy is a bit like the twilight zone in the city that never sleeps – there’s a different vibe and energy about this particular research niche in oncology and quite a few new developments to discuss…

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August Journal Club – Cancer Immunotherapy

The audience of Biotech Strategy Blog is a broad “church” (no pun intended) of professionals associated with cancer drug development.

Oxford Bridge of Sighs

Bridge of Sighs, Oxford

Some readers with a research focus noticed I was in Oxford recently then contacted me to ask what scientific papers I was reading and catching up on over the lazy summer months?

This got me thinking as I was vividly reminded of my days as a PhD student at King’s College London, where the department would regularly meet to discuss key papers and recent research.

If your work has a narrow focus, and that applies to industry too, it’s sometimes difficult to see what’s on the horizon or be stimulated by ideas outside your immediate field, yet cross-fertilisation is an important pillar of learning. That’s one of the advantages of BSB, we cover a wide range of topics, at varying levels of complexity.

Welcome to the BSB Journal Club!

In this inaugural post, I’ve selected several recently published cancer immunotherapy papers that caught my attention, also a couple of books for your summer reading.

In case you worry that the science is above your ‘pay grade,’ for each I’ve written a brief summary and highlighted what data means from a commercial/new product development persepctive. You are of course most welcome to agree/disagree and reach your own conclusions… I hope it will stimulate your thinking.

Science often moves forward and develops as people make connections from a broader perspective.  I’m planning on running the “Journal Club” as a monthly ad hoc post to dovetail with the Reader Q&A Mailbag.

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