This week's health care and life sciences news includes a major award for a Penn physician-researcher, a C-suite hire at a cell therapy company, an industry-health system partnership and more.
Here's the roundup:
University of Pennsylvania
Cell therapy pioneer Dr. Carl June, a professor of immunotherapy at Penn's Perelman School of Medicine and director of the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies at its Abramson Cancer Center, was named a winner of the 2024 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for his development of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell immunotherapy.
The prize carries a cash award of $3 million.
June received the honor in the life sciences category along with Michel Sadelain, an immunologist at the Sloan Kettering Institute. In the same category, six other researchers were recognized for inventing the first effective medicines to treat the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis and for discovering the most common genetic causes of Parkinson’s Disease.
CAR T cell therapy involves modifying an individual patient’s T cells, part of the immune system, to improve their ability to target and kill their cancer cells. June led the team at Penn that developed the CAR T cell therapy resulting in the Novartis drug Kymriah, the first FDA-approved personalized cellular therapy initially cleared as a treatment for a type blood cancer known as acute lymphoblastic leukemia in August of 2017.
“This award is not only a testament to Dr. June’s outstanding contributions to science, but also a shining example of the caliber of discoveries and research which Penn faculty set their sights upon,” said University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, in a statement.
Today, hundreds of CAR T cell clinical trials are now in progress worldwide.
“Dr. June’s tireless commitment to advancing T cell immunotherapy research has been life-changing for many patients affected by cancer, who have lived longer, fuller lives, thanks to the discoveries made in his lab,” said Dr. J. Larry Jameson, executive vice president for the Penn Health System and dean of the Perelman School of Medicine.
June's work is highlighted in a documentary film, “Of Medicine and Miracles,” which made its debut at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival and will be shown in Philadelphia at a special screening Sept. 19 hosted by Life Sciences Pa. at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
Since its founding in 2013, the Breakthrough Prize has been given to standout individuals in life sciences, mathematics, and fundamental physics. This year's winners will be honored at a ceremony in Los Angeles on April 13, 2024.
Penn researchers and faculty members Dr. Drew Weissman, Katalin Karikó, Virginia M.Y. Lee, Charles Kane and Eugene Mele are previous Breakthrough Prize recipients.
Adaptimmune
The onco-immunotherapy company with offices at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and in Oxford, England, appointed Dr. Karen Chagin at its senior vice president of early stage development.
Chagin was previously chief medical officer of Tmunity, which was acquired last year by Kite Pharma, a California-based subsidiary of Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD.) After the acquisition, Chagin became head of Kite Philadelphia.
Prior to that, she was at Adaptimmune (NASDAQ: ADAP) from 2015 to 2019 as the company's vice president of clinical development.
"Karen brings extensive oncology and cell therapy development leadership expertise to Adaptimmune," said Adrian Rawcliffe, the company's CEO. "We are thrilled that she will lead the development of our next wave of cell therapies for solid tumors."
Dr. Chagin holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a medical degree from the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University.
ChristianaCare
The Delaware health system's Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute received a $1 million gift to advance cancer care and reduce disparities.
ChristianaCare plans to use the donation from the Bacchieri family to support the purchase of an advanced radiography system to analyze breast cancer specimens at the research institute and expand a fellowship program to reduce disparities in breast and lung cancer.
Dr. Nicholas Petrelli, the cancer center's medical director, said the new radiography system will enable providers to see the "finest details in the widest range of specimens" while reducing turnaround time.
The center's Caspar Wistar Bacchieri Disparities Fellowship in Cancer Population Health will support the next generation of population health cancer researchers and focus on cancer control and prevention activities that have the potential to significantly decrease cancer disparities, especially in breast and lung cancer. The researchers will have access to resources at both the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia and the Graham Cancer Center.
Quick Hits
The Food and Drug Administration has accepted for priority review a new drug application filed by Madrigal Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MDGL) of Conshohocken for resmetirom, its experimental treatment of adult patients with NASH (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis) with liver fibrosis. The FDA expects to make a decision on the application by March 14, 2024. … Malvern-based Ocugen (NASDAQ: OCGN) announced positive results from a Phase1/2 clinical trial for OCU400, an experimental gene therapy under development as a potential treatment for retinitis pigmentosa and Leber congenital amaurosis, both of which are inherited retinal diseases. … Suvoda, a Philadelphia-based clinical trial technology company that specializes in complex studies in therapeutic areas such as oncology, central nervous system, and rare disease, has expanded its presence in Romania with the opening of its newest office in Iași.
