For cell and gene therapy companies developing allogeneic therapies, including allogeneic CAR-T or T-cell immunotherapies, getting high-quality starting material from healthy adult donors is critical to the success of their therapies. But, what is it like to be the allogeneic donors who get the call asking them to be volunteer donors? And why would they…
The UCLA Health Hematologic Malignancy/Stem Cell Transplant Program has been a pioneer in providing cell therapies to patients with hematologic cancers and disorders. In 2015, UCLA began participating in multisite clinical trials for CAR-T therapy and was one of the first centers in the nation to offer both FDA-approved CAR-T therapies, Kymriah® and Yescarta®. As…
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies and other new immune effector cell therapies are offering hope for many patients with relapsed and refractory leukemia, lymphoma and other blood cancers. However, these therapies also have known serious side effects, including cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and immune effector cell neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS). Because the definitions and…
This has been a landmark year for the cell and gene therapy industry. It’s also been an exciting year for Be The Match BioTherapies®, as we’ve forged new partnerships and expanded our international presence. We highlight a few key efforts below as we look forward to the year ahead. The push toward cell and gene…
The approval of CAR-T therapies Kymriah® and Yescarta® in late 2017 represented an enormous milestone for patients with leukemia, lymphoma, and other blood cancers. However, the ongoing uncertainty over reimbursement has made it difficult for patients to access the CAR-T treatments. Despite the months passed since the therapies were FDA approved, only some patients that…
2018 has been a year of advancement for the cell therapy industry. With the first two approved CAR-T cell therapies now on the market, organizations are shifting their focus from commercialization to industrialization through well-designed supply chains, standardized quality assurance practices and long-term outcomes tracking to support current and future cell therapy products. Let’s take…
CAR-T therapies progressed to market at an unprecedented pace. Due to their accelerated FDA approvals, long-term data on how patients fare post-treatment isn’t readily available. As the number of patients commercially treated with CAR-T therapy grows, long-term outcomes data has the potential to influence the entire industry of personalized cell and gene therapies. As with…
The field of cancer immunotherapies was buoyed last year by the FDA’s approval of the first autologous CAR-T drugs on the market, Novartis’ Kymriah and Gilead’s Yescarta. But, many drug makers are already looking in a new direction — off-the-shelf, or allogeneic, CAR-T therapies. In autologous therapies, like Kymriah and Yescarta, scientists isolate T cells from…
Last month, Jamie Margolis, PhD, who has been with Be The Match BioTherapies® since its inception, was promoted to Director of Product Development Operations. We spoke with her about key challenges the cell therapy industry is facing and how Be The Match BioTherapies is positioned, and growing, to help companies advance their cell or gene…