ACGT Email Newsletters

Renier Brentjens, MD, PhD, an ACGT Research Fellow at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, helped launch the first CAR T-cell trials for leukemia two decades ago. Today, he is bringing the power of cell therapy to solid tumors including ovarian cancer, with CAR T cells equipped to secrete a cytokine that reprograms the hostile environment around the tumor and draws the patient’s own immune system into the attack. With ACGT support, the therapy is advancing toward its first trial in patients with recurrent, platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.

“We want to be the Rolls-Royce of CAR T-cell engines,” Dr. Brentjens said. “To make an engine that won’t fail.”

Read the full story on Dr. Brentjens’ work.

On Thursday, October 1, 2026, ACGT will celebrate 25 years of progress in cancer cell and gene therapy at the Riverside Yacht Club in Greenwich, Connecticut. Founded in 2001, ACGT was among the first funders to back a field that most of medicine had not yet taken seriously. The courage and support of ACGT founders, Edward and Barbara Netter enabled the success of the first FDA-approved CAR T-cell therapies. The evening will pay tribute to the leadership shown by the ACGT Scientific Advisory Council, to our partners Swim Across America – Fairfield County, and to the patient survivors who have received CAR T-cell therapy and are living their lives cancer-free.

ACGT Alliance Partner, Catalent, are hosting the BioNJ Manufacturing Summit on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, 9:00 am – 4:30 pm, at Catalent, 104 Campus Dr, Princeton, NJ 08540.

The event brings together industry thought leaders to explore the trends, challenges and opportunities to shape the future of biopharmaceutical manufacturing.

ACGT Chief Program Officer, Barbara Lavery will be presenting an overview of ACGT’s programs and moderating the panel below:

Patient Perspective: Access, Outcomes & Impact
Gain a firsthand perspective on the transformative impact of advanced therapies through the voices of Patients and Patient advocates. This session will highlight real-world experiences and underscore the critical importance of innovation, affordability, and timely access to life-changing treatments.

Speakers: George Eastwood, Executive Director, Emily Whitehead Foundation and Bradley Watts, Patient Advocate, CAR-T Recipient, Barbara Lavery, ACGT Chief Program Officer. 

September marks a vital moment in philanthropic planning. It is traditionally the month when the highest volume of Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs) are established, as forward-thinking donors organize their giving to maximize impact ahead of year-end.

In cancer research, strategic philanthropy does more than support laboratories—it accelerates cures. For 25 years, Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT) has directed resources to visionary scientists whose ideas challenge the standard of care. As cancer survivor Laurie Adami reflected, “Dollars directly translate into improving patient outcomes. The most important act a person can take is to fund nonprofits like Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy to improve upon the work that has been done to date”. 

Recommending a grant through your DAF is one of the most effective ways to champion bold science. Because ACGT’s management and fundraising expenses are underwritten by a separate fund, 100% of every public dollar granted goes directly to frontline research. 

To recommend a grant through your DAF sponsor, search for Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy using our Tax ID / EIN: 06-1619523. For questions or transfer assistance, please reach out to our team at info@acgtfoundation.org.

First phase clinical trial 3 success for a personalized mRNA cancer therapy. Merck and Moderna reported on August 19 that intismeran autogene, an mRNA therapy tailored to each patient’s own tumor mutations, kept melanoma from returning longer than Keytruda alone in more than 1,100 patients whose stage IIB-IV disease had been surgically removed. It is the first phase 3 trial with an individualized neoantigen therapy to achieve its endpoint.

CREATE Medicines and WestGene partner on in vivo CAR therapies. In vivo CAR therapy skips the manufacturing step, using lipid nanoparticles to reprogram immune cells inside the body. CREATE will pair its platform with WestGene Biopharma’s targeted delivery technology to advance three programs, including one aimed at HER2 and TROP2 in solid tumors.

CAR T cells can drive treatment-resistant rheumatoid arthritis into remission. Six patients at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin whose severe disease had failed as many as eight prior therapies received CD19-targeted CAR T cells, the same approach used against B-cell blood cancers. Disease activity fell sharply in all six, and three stayed in remission with no arthritis medication for up to a year.

Do supercentenarians’ immune systems explain their longevity? Researchers at the University of Osaka examined blood from people ranging from their 70s to past 110, and found a rare type of CD4+ T cell that multiplies rather than fades after ten decades of life. These cells can kill infected and cancerous cells, and in the oldest donors a few had grown into large clonal populations whose T-cell receptors matched receptors found in patients with lung, breast, and liver cancer, even though none of the donors had ever been diagnosed with those diseases. The researchers suspect these cells may be quietly catching cancer early, but stress that is a possibility their study raises, not one it proves.