Welcome to our June 2025 newsletter.
|
|
|
Help Swim Across America Make Waves to Fight Cancer on June 21st!
|
The 19th annual Swim Across America-Fairfield County (SAA-FC) open water swim benefiting the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy is coming up on Saturday, June 21, 2025, in Stamford, CT!
Whether you’re a seasoned swimmer or participating for the first time, this open water swim is your chance to honor loved ones, celebrate survivors, and raise funds for groundbreaking cancer research.
Now in its 19th year, the Fairfield County Swim has raised nearly $6 million, with ACGT proudly serving as the event’s local beneficiary. Every dollar raised supports innovative scientists developing cell and gene therapies with the potential to treat and cure cancer.
You can choose to swim 0.5 miles, 1.5 miles, or 3 miles, individually or as part of a team. Not a swimmer? No problem—you can still join as a volunteer, land supporter, or virtual participant! There’s also the Kids’ Splash for swimmers under the age of 11.
Registration is now open! All swimmers commit to a minimum fundraising goal—$500 for adults and $300 for participants under 18. (There is no fundraising minimum for Kids’ Splash swimmers. However, they are encouraged to fundraise if they would like!)
Register for the 19th annual SAA-FC open water swim today!
|
National Cancer Survivors Month.
|
|
|
For nearly 25 years, ACGT has supported the future of cancer cell and gene therapies, ever since funding Carl June, MD (University of Pennsylvania) and Michel Sadelain, MD, PhD (Columbia University)’s research into the first CAR T-cell therapies.
Ever since, funding from ACGT has helped support cell and gene therapy trials that have paved the way for treatments that have saved lives. Lives like Chris White, who is now cancer-free after TIL therapy cured his melanoma, or Laurie Adami, who received successful CAR T-cell therapy after a 12-year battle with lymphoma. Now patient advocates, both White and Adami spoke at the recent ACGT Summit 2025 in New York City.
This National Cancer Survivors Month, we recognize the strength and courage of the patients whose participation in clinical trials helped to advance breakthrough CAR T-cell therapies. Today, ACGT-funded science continues to help patients become survivors. Now, we want to help you tell your story.
If you are a patient whose cancer is in remission thanks to CAR T-cell therapy – including CAR T-cell, TIL or TCR therapies – the loved one of a patient, or a medical professional who treated a patient with cell and gene therapy, your story can inspire others.
Please email our content manager David Statman, at dstatman@acgtfoundation.org.
|
|
|
Why Philanthropy Matters Most at the Starting Line.
|
In cancer research, breakthroughs are celebrated — the moments when new treatments emerge, survival rates improve, or a discovery changes everything.
But those moments don’t happen overnight.
They’re the result of years — sometimes decades — of quiet, determined effort. Early ideas that were once unproven, unfunded, or even unpopular. Behind every breakthrough is a long chain of researchers, risk-takers, and funders who believed in the potential long before the world took notice.
At ACGT, we focus on translating promising research into breakthroughs for the hardest to treat cancers — where the need for belief is greatest. It’s where a modest philanthropic gift can spark something extraordinary: a new therapeutic approach, a novel clinical trial, or a deeper understanding of how cancer works.
These aren’t always quick wins. But they are bold bets.
And while not every grant leads directly to a cure, each one contributes to the larger body of knowledge that gets us there — together. In fact, many of ACGT’s fellows have gone on to receive major follow-on funding from institutions like the NIH or venture capital groups, multiplying the initial philanthropic investment many times over.
We share this not just to celebrate success — but to highlight why your support matters.
When you give to cancer research through ACGT, you’re not just funding today’s questions. You’re helping pave the road to tomorrow’s cures. You’re enabling the kind of science that takes time, courage, and patience.
If you’re interested in learning how your giving could spark long-term impact in cancer research, please contact Keri Eisenberg, ACGT Chief Philanthropy Officer, at (475) 400-4373 or keisenberg@acgtfoundation.org.
Because the future of cancer treatment depends on what we do now — together.
|
2025 Merkin Prize in Biomedical Technology awarded to pioneers of CAR T-cell therapy.
|
Last month, the prestigious 2025 Merkin Prize in Biomedical Technology was awarded to four pioneers of CAR T-cell therapy – each with a close relationship with ACGT. ACGT Board member Bruce Levine, PhD, and ACGT Scientific Advisory Council members – Carl June, MD, Isabelle Rivière, PhD, and Michel Sadelain, MD, PhD, – will split the $400,000 prize. These four scientists developed technology that reprograms patients’ immune systems to target cancer, leading to several FDA-approved treatments given to over 45,000 cancer patients, including many who had exhausted all other options and thousands who experienced remissions.
ACGT is proud to have provided critical grant funding to Drs. June and Sadelain in their early CAR-T research and clinical trials, leading to the approvals of Kymriah and Yescarta.
The Merkin Prize recognizes novel technologies that have improved human health and is administered by the Broad Institute, one of the world’s leading biomedical research institutes.
|
News from the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting.
|
Important and encouraging cancer cell and gene therapy updates were presented during the ASCO Annual Meeting held in Chicago, Illinois, from May 30 to June 3, 2025.
More CAR-T Progress in Glioblastoma
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania presented an update on a Phase 1 trial of a dual-targeted CAR T-cell therapy to treat glioblastoma. Out of 18 patients, 13 had a measurable tumor when they received the cell therapy, and of those 13, 8 experienced tumor regression, including one patient whose tumor shrank by more than 50%. These findings indicate that intracerebroventricular delivery of bivalent CART-EGFR-IL13Rα2 is feasible and appears safe. CART-EGFR-IL13Rα2 cells are bioactive and exhibit a signal of antitumor effect in recurrent GBM. The trial, titled CART-EGFR-IL13Ra2 in EGFR Amplified Recurrent GBM, is ongoing and open for patient recruitment.
TCR-T Shows Results in Metastatic Melanoma
In a Phase 1 trial of a single treatment with ACTengine® IMA203, an autologous TCR-T targeting PRAME, an intracellular protein, clinicians saw significant tumor shrinkage and durable responses combined with meaningful progression-free survival in patients with metastatic melanoma who had exhausted multiple lines of systemic treatments. The TCR-T therapy from Immatics, a biotech company, will now move into a Phase 3 trial planned to run globally with sites in the United States and Europe.
Groundbreaking Trial for Patients with Advanced Gastric Cancer
A phase II clinical trial in China tested satri-cel CAR T-cell therapy in people with advanced gastric cancer or gastro-esophageal junction cancer.
CARsgen, a biotech company, and researchers from Peking University Cancer Hospital & Institute in Beijing, said satri-cel showed a statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival and clinically meaningful improvement in overall survival.
“This is an exciting study showing the first positive results from a randomized trial testing CAR T-cells for a solid cancer,” said Dr. Carl June, who was not involved with the trial. “The study shows that satri-cel CAR T-cells provide significant benefits to advanced gastric cancer patients who have failed at least two prior lines of therapy. This represents a groundbreaking milestone for the field of CAR-T therapies against solid tumors.”
35% of patients treated with satri-cel in the Phase 2 trial responded to the therapy, compared to just a 4% response in patients who received standard of care. The trial represents the world’s first randomized controlled clinical study of CAR T-cell therapy for solid tumors.
|
|
|
The latest on cancer cell and gene therapy from around the world.
|
|
|
|
