Upon hearing the phrase ‘cancer treatment’, the first word that can typically spring to mind is chemotherapy – a primary therapy which uses powerful chemicals to destroy rapidly growing cancer cells in the body.
Novartis’s Kymriah CAR-T therapy did not meet its primary endpoint of event-free survival in a phase 3 study in patients with aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) after relapse or lack of response to first-line treatment.
The market for cell therapy products is set to expand based on increasing investment from the industry and the implementation of advanced manufacturing technologies.
In its full-year financials, Novartis announced plans to transform its cell therapy manufacturing process through greater investment and utilisation of digital technologies.
ICT is developing upon CAR-T cell technology to enable T-cells to persist against cancer’s attempt to program death into a patient’s defensive T-cells, which could potentially treat solid tumors.
NICE recommends CAR T-cell treatment Kymirah to be covered by the Cancer Drugs Fund to treat adult patients with lymphoma, despite previous negative appraisals.
Funding of £7.3m will be provided across three initiatives, with the long-term aim of providing patients with access to cell and gene therapies at a faster rate.
CBMG announced a manufacturing collaboration agreement with Novartis at the end of last month to produce CAR-T treatment Kymriah for the Chinese market and the company has further ambitions in the pipeline.
