Texas' MD Anderson Cancer Center Creates New Cell Therapy Institute

Editor's note: this story was originally published on PharmTech.com.

On Nov. 8, 2024, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center announced the creation of the new Institute for Cell Therapy Discovery & Innovation, which will aim to develop cell therapies for cancer, autoimmune diseases, and infections. Under the institute's umbrella, scientists and clinicians who can provide insight into immunology and cell engineering will be brought together. The institute will be supported by $80 million in funding from philanthropic organizations and institutions.

Led by Katy Rezvani, vice president and head of the Institute for Cell Therapy Discovery & Innovation, the new institute will integrate MD Anderson’s different research areas with the goal of accelerating discovery and development of new cell therapies from preclinical through clinical phases. This effort includes the James P. Allison Institute and Institute for Data Science in Oncology. External researchers and bio/pharmaceutical companies will also be part of the collaborative effort.

“Cell therapies have delivered profound results for patients with hematologic cancers, but there remain too many patients that do not benefit. It is critical to our mission to bring these promising therapies forward as options for patients with cancer and other conditions,” Rezvani said in a press release (1). “Through our discoveries, we aim to provide many more patients with effective cell therapies that are available as off-the-shelf treatment options, limiting the need for lengthy hospital stays and associated costs.”

“MD Anderson clinicians and researchers have been instrumental in shaping the cell therapy field, and we are proud to take this important step into the future,” said Peter WT Pisters, president of MD Anderson, in the release. “The Institute for Cell Therapy Discovery & Innovation is a key piece of our institutional strategy, as we focus on cancer breakthroughs to improve patient outcomes. Our world-class facilities, exceptional talent and unique research environment will enable our teams to deliver transformational new medicines and to further our efforts to maximize our impact on humanity to finally end cancer.”

Cell therapies use a patient’s immune cells as building blocks to create treatments. MD Anderson has performed clinical trials on FDA-approved chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy products targeting CD19 and BCMA for B-cell lymphomas, leukemias, and multiple myeloma. The institute also advanced CAR natural killer (NK) cells into clinical studies patients with lymphoid malignancies, based on cord blood-derived CD19 CAR NK cell therapies developed by Rezvani and her team. Additional research by the group has been done for cell therapies in solid tumors, including adoptive T-cell receptor therapy targeting MAGE-A4 for patients with multiple solid tumor types.

“For years, our talented scientists and clinicians have been at the forefront of discovery, understanding and development of novel cell therapies,” said Giulio Draetta, chief scientific officer at MD Anderson, in the release. “By integrating with experts across the research and clinical enterprise, the Institute for Cell Therapy Discovery & Innovation will be able to create important new treatments, tailored to unmet patient needs, in ways only possible here.”

Reference

1. MD Anderson. MD Anderson Launches Institute for Cell Therapy Discovery & Innovation to Deliver Transformational New Therapies. Press Release Nov. 8, 2024.