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Quinn Johnsen was a young industrial designer in Toronto, an avid skier, the picture of health. That was before a sudden battle with synovial sarcoma threatened to take everything away.

Today, Johnsen’s life is nearly back to normal, less than one year after he underwent a personalized immunotherapy treatment with afami-cel, the first TCR T-cell therapy ever approved by the FDA. 

And as he approaches the one-year anniversary of his successful experience with TCR-T, he wants to advocate for greater awareness of these life-changing treatments.

Read more about Quinn’s inspiring story.

On Sep. 29, the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT) held an event with the Golden West Gold Chapter of YPO, the global leadership community of more than 35,000 members in 150 countries. 

The event brought YPO members together with leaders in cancer cell and gene therapy research and development to provide an educational and inspirational afternoon of presentations, patient advocacy, and philanthropy. The illuminating afternoon would not have been possible without the support of AstraZeneca, who opened their Santa Monica campus for this important conversation.

The afternoon featured leading voices in science and advocacy, including ACGT Scientific Advisory Council member Christine Brown, PhD (City of Hope), and CAR T-cell therapy advocate and stage IV incurable follicular non-Hodgkin lymphoma survivor Laurie Adami.

Read more here.

As Thanksgiving approaches, ACGT is deeply grateful for the ongoing support of our donors. Your generosity allows us to fund the boldest scientists leveraging the immune system to confront cancer.

Hope doesn’t cure cancer—science does. Your contribution drives incredible momentum: we’ve recently witnessed the first-ever cell therapies approved for solid tumors, proving the cell and gene therapy research you back is scaling oncology’s hardest wall.

Make a year-end contribution today and help ACGT drive our vision: a cancer-free future. Remember, 100% of your donation directly fuels the science.

At the invitation of Swim Across America and the Association for Value-based Cancer Care, ACGT participated in the Global Cancer Research Innovation Symposium. Chief Program Officer Barbara Lavery joined a panel entitled “The Winds of Washington and the Impact on Cancer Research,” addressing how politics, policy and leadership changes at the FDA and CBER are impacting the ability of cancer research to advance. 

The panel discussed how innovation is stymied by chaotic change and how delays or stoppages in funding adversely impact critical clinical trials and research programs. The impact of a “brain drain” where young investigators leave the United States for more stable working environments was also a topic of discussion. Other panelists included Jon Retzlaff, Chief Policy Officer at AACR, and John Connolly, Chief Scientific Officer at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. Collectively, the panel agreed that collaboration and proactive resource sharing across grant programs could help sustain some progress as well as the need to actively participate in lobbying efforts to communicate the importance of funding scientific research to congress.

Also, during the conference, Kevin Honeycutt, CEO and President of ACGT, conducted a fireside chat with patient advocate Chris White. Chris was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive type of malignant metastatic melanoma and was transitioning to hospice care when he had the opportunity to join a TIL therapy clinical trial. He is now five years cancer-free and effectively cured. Chris told his story to a room full of oncology business leaders who were inspired and energized by his presentation. The TIL therapy that Chris was treated with is now FDA approved and marketed as Amtagvi.

November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month. An estimated 67,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year, and with a five-year survival rate of only 13%, it’s one of the most aggressive and difficult-to-treat forms of cancer there is.

There has long been an urgent need for more effective therapies for pancreatic cancer. And over the last year, ACGT has issued grants to three cell and gene therapy research projects in an effort to transform treatment of this disease.

These grants include projects helmed by Philip Greenberg, MD (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center) and Ben Z. Stanger, MD, PhD (University of Pennsylvania). And just this past week, ACGT announced another pancreatic cancer grant issued to a project led by Marcela Maus, MD, PhD (Massachusetts General Hospital).

ACGT hopes these efforts will continue to drive the treatment of pancreatic cancer forward, towards our ultimate goal of a cancer-free future.

ACGT recently had the opportunity to visit City of Hope to learn more about the cancer cell and gene research programs and clinical trials happening within the institution. ACGT Scientific Advisory Council member Christine Brown, PhD provided a tour of her laboratory followed by presentations from City of Hope researchers Leo Wang, MD, PhD, Anthony K. Park, PhD, and Stephen Lin, PhD.

Dr. Brown provides scientific oversight for the preclinical research program, as well as the ongoing clinical trial program focused on the development of CAR-engineered T cells for the treatment of hematological malignancies and solid tumors. Dr. Brown’s personal research efforts are focused on developing and refining redirected CAR T cells for the treatment of malignant brain tumors.

Dr. Wang leads a research laboratory focused on harnessing the immune system to fight cancer in children. His work there uses cellular engineering to reprogram the body’s own immune cells to kill tumor cells, and to teach reengineered cells to adapt to tumors as they change and evolve to try to escape from therapy. Dr. Wang also leads clinical trials using these living medicines to treat children with brain tumors and other forms of deadly cancer, and uses the information learned from these trials to improve the design and implementation of next-generation therapies.

Dr. Park focuses on advancing immunotherapy strategies for cancer treatment. With over five years of experience at City of Hope, his research has explored the use of oncolytic viruses and CAR T cells to target solid tumors.

Dr. Lin is a leader in cellular immunotherapy and regenerative medicine and has played a pivotal role in advancing cell and gene therapy operations, including leading a 100+ person team focused on GMP manufacturing, process development, and analytical strategies. His expertise spans a wide range of cell types and platforms, including CAR-T, CAR-NK, TIL, MSC, NSC, and iPSC-derived therapies.

The scientific presentations and the integration of the manufacturing processes that support the research and trials underscored City of Hope’s leadership in the cancer cell and gene therapy field.