Final fundraising push before ACGT’s fiscal year ends!

Thanks to our donors, Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT) has funded groundbreaking research that has led to FDA approvals and brought life-saving therapies to patients with difficult-to-treat cancers.

A donation on or before April 30 (the end of our fiscal year) will strengthen ACGT’s position for the next 12 months as we fund new initiatives in cancer cell and gene therapy, such as the ACGT-Barbara Netter Fund Collaboration Challenge, a research grant bringing together scientists from different academic, biotech and pharmaceutical disciplines to help solve the challenges of pediatric cancers. 

2024 is poised to be a record year for cell and gene therapy with new FDA approvals, clinical trials, and more. Your gift today will help ACGT fund research focused on pancreatic cancer – a disease with alarmingly low survival rates – and expand our efforts to address women’s diseases such as breast, ovarian, endometrial and cervical cancers. By investing in these critical areas, we can unlock new treatment options and offer hope to patients and families facing these challenging diagnoses. 

Your support today is crucial to sustaining the momentum of our research priorities and driving forward novel solutions for cancer patients. Whether it’s your first gift or your next gift, we invite you to join us in our shared mission to eradicate cancer. 

Make your donation today.

Remember, 100% of your gift goes directly toward funding vital cancer research that could lead to cures.

ACGT welcomes cell and gene therapy experts for Summit 2024.

ACGT Summit 2024 brought together top scientists in cancer cell and gene therapy for a day-long event held March 29 in New York City. Attendees praised the Summit for providing a setting that promoted the sharing of ideas among their peers to achieve breakthoughs. Credit: Hechler Photographers

On March 29, ACGT held its annual scientific summit – ACGT Summit 2024 – an invitation-only gathering bringing together top scientists in cancer cell and gene therapy. The day-long event held in New York City featured ACGT Research Fellows, ACGT Scientific Advisory Council members, biotech and pharma experts, and other industry thought-leaders. 

The agenda for Summit 2024 was curated to provide a collaborative environment encouraging scientists to share developing ideas among their peers to achieve breakthroughs in cell and gene therapy research for difficult-to-treat cancers. Presentations and panel discussions included the innovations and challenges of developing cell and gene therapies for pancreatic cancer and brain cancer, the translation of new therapies from the academic laboratory to biotech, and a look ahead to “what’s next” regarding the evolution of cell and gene therapies for solid tumors.

Scientists in attendance – considered the luminaries in the field of cell and gene therapy – enthusiastically praised the Summit for providing a collaborative and intimate setting that promoted the spirited exchange of research data, clinical experiences, and theories on how to advance the field and improve outcomes for patients.

“The effectiveness of any meeting like this is primarily dependent on who is in the room,” said ACGT Research Fellow and Scientific Advisory Council member Crystal Mackall, MD (Stanford University). “If you have a group of people who are comfortable sharing ideas, asking questions, and even providing contrasting points of view, then you get dynamic and informative interaction. That’s exactly the type of environment you find every year at the ACGT Summit.”

ACGT will share more details about Summit 2024 in the May e-newsletter.

Proposals are being accepted for the Edward Netter Memorial Investigator Award in Cell and Gene Therapy Research for Pancreatic Cancer. Visit the ACGT website for more information.

FDA approves first cell and gene therapy for CLL and SLL.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in March approved the CAR T-cell therapy lisocabtagene maraleucel (brand name Breyanzi) as a treatment for relapsed or resistant chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL).

CAR T-cell therapy, a type of cancer cell and gene therapy, uses immune system cells genetically engineered to look for and attack cancer cells expressing a specific protein. Breyanzi is engineered to target the protein CD19, which is often present on the surface of leukemia and lymphoma cells.

Breyanzi is the first cell and gene therapy approved to treat CLL and SLL, which account for approximately 18,700 new cases in the U.S. each year. The FDA’s approval requires that patients have tried at least two other lines of treatment, specifically a BTK inhibitor and a B-cell lymphoma 2 inhibitor, before receiving Breyanzi. 

In a recent phase 2 clinical trial, 45% of CLL and SLL patients had an anti-tumor response after receiving Breyanzi and 18.4% had a complete response (no sign of tumors on scans). Reported side effects for study participants were mostly low-grade or mild.

Breyanzi, which is manufactured by Bristol Myers Squibb, is one of six CAR T-cell therapies approved for blood cancers. It was first approved in 2021 to treat people with relapsed or resistant large B-cell lymphoma.

Read more about the approval in the Bristol Myers Squibb press release.

ACGT Board of Directors spotlight: Chen Schor

Two years ago, ACGT welcomed Chen Schor, MBA, CPA, to its Board of Directors to help provide sound governance and advocacy to advance ACGT’s mission and ensure the foundation’s sustainability.

Mr. Schor is president and chief executive officer of Adicet Bio, a leader in the field of gamma-delta CAR T-cell therapies for the treatment of cancer. With more than 25 years of global biopharmaceutical leadership experience, he has led several biotech companies across all stages, from formation to early-stage discovery and to publicly traded multi-product companies with significant industry partnerships. Mr. Schor is chairman of the board of directors for Carbon Biosciences, a gene therapy company; and a member of the board of directors for Karyopharm Therapeutics, a commercial stage oncology company.

Thank you to Mr. Schor for his stewardship these past two years as a member of ACGT’s Board of Directors.

In the news

The latest from around the cancer cell and gene therapy research world.

Mustang Bio and City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center’s CAR T-cell therapy extends survival for patients in a phase 1 glioblastoma clinical trial, including one patient whose cancer has not recurred for more than five years. Christine Brown, PhD, a member of the ACGT Scientific Advisory Council, is the creator of the therapy used in the trial.

Living drugs that reprogram patients’ immune cells show early promise against glioblastoma in three different phase 1 CAR T-cell clinical trials at the University of Pennsylvania, City of Hope and Massachusetts General Hospital.

Iovance sees a “healthy demand” for the cell therapy Amtagvi from melanoma patients after the FDA’s approval. The tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy was the first of its kind to win approval on Feb. 16. It is also the first FDA-approved T-cell therapy for a solid tumor, specifically for people with advanced melanoma that persists after treatment with an anti-PD-1 therapy and a targeted therapy.

Astellas is pursuing “convertible” in-vivo CAR T-cell therapies with Kelonia Therapeutics.

Candel Therapeutics announces positive interim data from a randomized phase 2 clinical trial of CAN-2409, a viral immunotherapy, in non-metastatic pancreatic cancer.