Conference Presentation, Panel, Fireside Chat
The Next Wave of Immunotherapy and Cancer Treatments | Milken Institute Global Conference 2024
Milken InstituteMarc Hurlbert, Gina Carithers, Friedrich Graf Finckenstein, Anusha Kalbasi, Connie Pfeiffer, Sunil Verma, Frederick Finckenstein, Neil Verma, Anusha Singhal
- New data regarding bispecific T-cell engagers (BITEs) are expected to be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in June or the European Society for Medical Oncology conference in September.
- Future immune treatments for prostate cancer are anticipated to emerge through combination therapies utilizing different mechanisms of action.
- T-cell engager technology is projected to eventually be applied to solid tumors beyond uveal melanoma with increasing targeting precision to reduce adverse events compared to checkpoint inhibitors.
- Combining targeted chemotherapy with antibody-drug conjugates and immune therapy is expected to synergize to expand patient populations in prostate and breast cancer where traditional immune therapies have had limited effects.
- Immunotherapy may be administered up front before surgery for locally advanced disease to reduce disease burden, though this approach is not yet standard practice.
- As understanding of tumor microenvironments improves, immunotherapy is expected to be utilized earlier in the disease course provided side effects are carefully managed.
- Efforts are directed toward better identifying patients with high microsatellite instability (MSI) to benefit from checkpoint inhibitors despite current recognition challenges in private practice.
- The traditional drug development paradigm evaluating late-line settings is expected to shift toward early-stage trials in homogeneous patient populations and "window of opportunity" settings involving multidisciplinary teams.
- Tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) cell therapy platforms are expected to expand to various rare melanoma subtypes and other cancers as technology transitions from academia to industry.
- CAR-T cell therapies are anticipated to become effective in specific solid tumor indications like brain tumors and gastrointestinal cancers as shared surface antigens are identified.
- Advances in genetic modification tools are expected to enable engineering of T-cells that are more potent, safer, and regulatable, while manufacturing timelines for personalized therapies may shorten from the current 40 days or shift to in vivo approaches.
- Industry players aim to reduce the "vein-to-vein" time for cell therapies, currently 6 to 8 weeks, to ensure feasibility for patients with rapidly progressing cancers.
- Off-the-shelf, universal T-cell products are expected to eventually develop to reduce manufacturing complexities and improve access in community settings.
- The development of new T-cell modifications involving competitive screening of approaches, potentially requiring novel clinical trial designs, is expected to occur.
- Testing and HLA-typing processes remain the primary bottleneck for off-the-shelf bispecific products, though cold chain logistics do not pose the same challenges as cell therapies.
- Data regarding CAR-T therapies targeting GPC-5 in hepatocellular carcinoma will be shared at the upcoming ASCO meeting, and the M-TACS platform is expected to expand to target head and neck cancers via the PRAME molecule.
- The oncology field is expected to continue evolving by integrating advocacy voices to address financial toxicity and ensure patient-centric development.