FDA approved AstraZeneca’s durvalumab (Imfinzi) with gemcitabine and cisplatin as neoadjuvant treatment, followed by single agent durvalumab as adjuvant treatment following radical cystectomy, for adults with muscle invasive bladder cancer.
The immune system can be a powerful tool to control cancer. Immune cells within our body detect cancer cells and release payloads that kill them. Transformative science in the last decade has led to the development of therapies that enhance the ability of our immune cells to carry out this function. These therapies, including checkpoint blockade and CAR-T cells, have been lifesaving for many patients that before had untreatable cancer. But, sadly, a majority of patients with advanced solid tumors still succumb to their disease.
Orca Bio, a late-stage biotechnology company, on March 17 announced results from the pivotal phase III Precision-T study of Orca-T, its lead investigational allogeneic T-cell immunotherapy, in patients with acute myeloid leukemia, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome and mixed-phenotype acute leukemia. Orca-T is manufactured using highly purified regulatory T-cells, hematopoietic stem cells and conventional T-cells derived from peripheral blood from either related or unrelated matched donors.
In the continuing evolution of personalized medicine, a new Yale study has found evidence to support the value of a tool that measures the presence of cancer-derived molecules in the blood of patients with lung cancer years after their treatment.