Reimbursement uncertainties hinder patient access to CAR-T therapies

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…

car-t cell

CAR-T 2.0

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…

Dr. Steven Devine

Q&A with Be The Match BioTherapies Medical Director, Dr. Steven Devine

Earlier this month, Dr. Steven Devine, a renowned blood and marrow transplant physician, joined our organization as the Be The Match BioTherapies Medical Director. He came to the organization from the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC-James). We spoke with Dr. Devine…

The future of cell therapy: challenges & solutions

One of the biggest hurdles in commercializing cell therapies is not the regulatory process, nor is it marketing a brand new, first-in-class product. Instead, many feel that the biggest challenge facing companies developing cell and gene therapies is proving to be the manufacturing process. Manufacturing CAR-T therapies presents multiple unique challenges. First, developing a personalized…