The successful development of CAR T cell therapy at Penn Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia brought cures to thousands of patients and opened the floodgates to an entire burgeoning industry of commercial immune cell therapies. Another impact: Penn’s campus is a major hub for lab-based discoveries that will power future treatments. But the most promising ideas emerging from research labs need funding to get to the patient’s bedside for further testing. Recent clinical trials at the Abramson Cancer Center—one using a dual-target CAR T approach for glioblastoma patients, and another using an “armored” CAR T cell therapy for blood cancers—have made important advances toward new therapies. Read more.
Partnerships with industry make it possible for therapies to be studied in greater numbers of patients, a critical step to eventually secure approval from the Food and Drug Administration for widespread use. Penn Medicine’s Co-Investment Program is a unique way the organization supports spinout companies to commercialize intellectual property from Penn Medicine labs. These companies have helped power the local economy, creating hundreds of jobs and attracting more than $1 billion of investment. And one spinout company will be scaling up through a recently announced $2.1 billion acquisition deal. Read more.
Even when some patients respond well to a new treatment, there is always more work to be done to help the patients that don’t. That means returning to the lab and turning new cycles of the discovery process, which takes more time and funding. It’s an area where academic institutions have a dedicated interest in continuing to make more early-stage discoveries to bring ideas to patients faster.