• Home
  • Posts
  • Report from the ACGT Summit 2021 – Changing the C-word from cancer to cure

Report from the ACGT Summit 2021 – Changing the C-word from cancer to cure

1-cap-2

By Anne W. Semmes

Once again swimmers participated in the annual Swim Across America/Fairfield County event that took place on August 8, on the shores of Long Island Sound, off the headquarters of the Greenwich-founded Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT).

ACGT co-founder Barbara Netter with Dr. Carl June receiving in 2019 the Edward Netter Leadership Award for pioneering cell and gene therapies for cancer. “ACGT believed in the science and funded us,” he said, “when no one else would.” Contributed photo.

The swimmers swam in support of life-saving treatments for cancer being sought by scientists, doctors and clinicians funded by AGCT  To share some of the life-saving findings of those world renowned researchers there was a first time ACGT Summit held via zoom.

Following on are some highlights taken from that Summit that featured keynote speaker Nobel Prize Laureate James Allison, PhD, and Dr. Carl June, ACGT Scientific Advisory Council member, chosen by Time Magazine in 2018 as one of the 100 most influential people in the world for his pioneering work in developing CAR T therapy, which became the nation’s first FDA-approved personalized cellular therapy for cancer in August 2017.

“Each cancer has its own Achilles heel that we need to identify,” noted Dr. June, who directs the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies at the University of Pennsylvania. “We’re at the dawn of an age now where we have the tools to make weapons out of our immune system. We’re going to see many different cell types used with the principles of genetic engineering to find the Achilles heels of various cancers.”

“We think the immune system can evolve at the pace of the tumor,” noted Dr. Brian Brown, ACGT research fellow 2021 and professor/associate director of the Precision Immunology Institute Icahn School of Medicine at Most Sinai. “We hope that we can harness the immune system in a way that it continues to evolve and kill cancer cells: to go and find them wherever they are. It’s a major breakthrough in our thinking about how to use gene and cell therapy against cancer.”

Dr. Michael Lotze chairs the prestigious ACGT Scientific Advisory Council. He is an immunologist at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center and professor of Surgery, Immunology, and Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Contributed photo.

“We’re not going to cure cancer without T-cells,” shared Dr. Michael T. Lotze, who chairs ACGT’s Scientific Advisory Council, “But T-cells by themselves are not enough. We need to find ways to facilitate getting T-cells in a tumor’s microenvironment. The great challenge is to marry cancer biology and tumor immunology.” Lotze is professor of Surgery and Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, and chief cellular therapy officer at Nurix.

From the patient quarter spoke Tom Whitehead, father of Emily, the first pediatric patient in the world to receive CAR T-cell therapy. “The therapy worked — today Emily is nine years cancer-free! She recently celebrated her 16th birthday and just finished her sophomore year of high school. Nine years post CAR T-cell therapy, cancer is thankfully a distant memory for her.” Whitehead is co-founder of the Emily Whitehead Foundation and works to encourage other patients to keep seeking new treatments, and to connect with researchers and clinicians to find cell and gene therapy trials that are potentially lifesaving.

Callum “Cal” Miller is a young CAR T recipient who was treated for Primary CNS Lymphoma, which is ultra-rare in children, with only a handful of cases around the world. Cal seeks to help other kids and families understand that “they’re in good hands with this new immunotherapy. CAR T is the top-of-the-line treatment. It’s new now, but it will be the normal regimen in a couple of years.” Cal was joined by his mother, Caroline Corner, who explained Cal’s treatment journey and how the CAR T clinical trial was a last chance for Cal to beat his rare disease. As of June 2021, Cal has achieved 12 months remission of his cancer.

“The one thing that touches me deeply,” said Dr. Klaus Veitinger, ACGT Board member and venture partner with OrbiMed, “is the passion of everyone involved in this area. People are really driven by passion, and for me, passion is a key ingredient for success. It’s for that reason, I’m optimistic.”

“We are excited that ACGT is the catalyst that unites these different stakeholders and fosters these important conversations,” said Barbara Lavery, chief program officer for ACGT. “Summit 2021 delivered incredible value that will help scientists working on new cell and gene therapy approaches, along with companies seeking investment to advance clinical pipelines, and patients and families looking for potentially life-changing therapeutic options in their fight against cancer.”

Related Posts
Loading...