NVS - 4 Companies That Could Upend the Pharma Industry
Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies to fight cancer have been around for a decade, but pharmaceutical companies are just beginning to scratch the surface on their potential applications.
In a CAR T-cell therapy, a person's T-cells -- part of the immune system -- are modified by implanting them with a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR for short), which is a synthetic molecule that helps the cells recognize and fight cancer. The treatment ideally multiplies and remains in the body. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first two CAR T-cell therapies in 2017.
CAR T-cell therapies have the potential to cure, sometimes with just one dose -- and sometimes when other methods, such as chemotherapy or bone marrow transplants, have been ineffective.