Media Thread, page-7372

Hi fattchoi!

Yes - that is indeed the question. Study 305 seems to be a purely IMU/City of Hope generated study. It was not carried out by Amgen, so far as I can see. All the study authors are CoH or IMU people.

So it looks like Saul and Yuman decided to widen the application of OnCARlytics beyond CAR-T combinations. Blincyto is a "Bispecific T cell engager (BiTE) monoclonal antibody."

This goes way beyond my pay grade, but they are very different to a CAR-T. Instead of taking a patient's T cells, altering them, cloning them, and using them as a treatment (CAR-T), the BiTE is administered to the patient and it binds to the patient's existing immune system T-cells, and also to the cancer cells - in effect bringing them together and forcing the T cell to attack the cancer cell. Very clever!

Blincyto targets the CD19 protein found on the Leukaemia cells. OnCARlytic forces solid tumours to express CD19 as well - so I guess it was a logical experiment for them to carry out. Blincyto is available on the market - so they didn't need Amgen's permission.

If I was a senior guy in Amgen, I would certainly be blinking. An effective treatment for Triple Negative Breast Cancer is a huge need, and a huge market, and if this combo gives Blincyto a "robust anti-tumour efficacy" against TNBC, it could/should work against any other solid tumour which can be forced by OnCARlytics to express CD19. That would be........ omg.....

Blink

Lol

Dave