gene therapy Archives - Recon Strategy

An opinionated take on NEJM highlights for the second quarter of 2024

Marc Herant July 1, 2024

The quest for solid tumor CAR-T For all their success in hematological cancers, the track record of CAR-Ts against solid tumors has been disappointing (though see here for an exception). One key obstacle has been access by CAR-Ts to the tumor site. Here, a Mass General team reports on their experience treating 3 patients afflicted with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM, a nearly always fatal brain malignancy) positive for a variant of the EGFR receptor. In each case they prepared (autologous) CAR-Ts against the EGFR variant, and delivered them directly into the

An opinionated take on NEJM highlights for the third quarter of 2023

Marc Herant October 2, 2023

How the US taxpayer saved 25M+ people A short piece celebrating the 20th anniversary of PEPFAR, a program that few outside of the field of Global Health are aware of. The world is not always nasty and brutish – it’s a shame it’s not said a bit more often. PEPFAR at 20 — A Game-Changing Impact on HIV in Africa A hypertension trend? A second study of an investigational antihypertensive drug in the Journal this year; are we back in the 80s or something? Joking aside, cardiac and vascular

Can BiTEs take a bite out of CAR-Ts in hematologic cancers?

Maggie Pickard and Sarah Dolman January 6, 2023

Download a PDF of this article here. Hematologic cancers account for ~10% of annual new cancer diagnoses and continue to have some of the poorest overall outcomes, particularly for older adults.[1] However, the last decade has seen major clinical improvements, led by drugs from two new modalities: cell therapy[2] and bispecifics. Here, we discuss the looming competition between these two drug-classes for hematological cancer indications. With recent approvals, and multiple late-stage assets for the same indication, the success of future launches will depend on how treatment paradigms shift, or do

An auto- or allo- future for cell therapy?

Sarah Dolman and Maggie Pickard August 26, 2022

Download a PDF of this article here. Ex vivo gene-therapies have been a game-changer for aggressive hematologic cancers. These products can effectively cure patients who otherwise had very low chance of survival beyond 5 -years. However, making these products is exceptionally complex and the drugs are priced accordingly (from $370,000 to over $2.5M). While few patients receive these treatments today, clinical development could lead to a much broader population. If 1 in 20 newly diagnosed cancers were optimally treated with these high-price therapies, the cost to health-payers could become untenable

An opinionated take on NEJM highlights for January-February 2021

Marc Herant March 7, 2022

Gene therapy in beta-thalassemia and sickle cell anemia Beta-thalassemia and sickle cell anemia are common genetic diseases of hemoglobin (Hb) which manifest themselves in the former through transfusion dependence, in the latter through painful vaso-occlusive crises that frequently land patients in the hospital in a pitiful state. BlueBird’s lentiglobin therapy is an ex-vivo gene therapy in which autologous stem cells are harvested, transfected with new HbA gene, and then returned to the patient. Because the HbA is slightly modified via a single amino-acid substitution (HbAT87Q), expression is trackable. Now in

Wrapping up 2021: An opinionated take on NEJM highlights for November-December 2021

Marc Herant January 6, 2022

In search of a diagnosis: deploying genomics at scale A substantial number of children have a disease identified as “rare” without having any kind of causative diagnosis (autism is not a causative diagnosis!). In a UK pilot study, 2,183 proband children were referred for exome sequencing with additional sequencing of family members if warranted. The overall diagnostic yield was surprisingly high, about 25% overall. Of the approximately half of probands who had neurological or sensory disorder, an explanatory diagnosis was reached in almost 40% of the cases. Two thoughts: 1)

An opinionated take on NEJM highlights for July 2020

Marc Herant August 3, 2020

Stunting and the microbiome Stunting (low growth for age) affects > 20% of children across the globe and has major impact on the brain, on health, and on opportunities for success in life. The precise mechanism of stunting has remained elusive. Sanitation and diet diversity play a role but targeted interventions in these areas have had less impact than hoped for. Jeff Gordon from WashU has spent the last decade exploring the relationship between stunting and the microbiome, and now his group reports on a study that shows a clear

Coronavirus and more: An opinionated take on NEJM highlights for January/February 2020

Marc Herant March 2, 2020

Keeping up with COVID-19 It’s not easy for a refereed weekly print periodical to keep up with an epidemic that evolves on a daily basis, but the NEJM is doing its best and all articles are free on-line. Most interesting beyond the description of the initial cluster in Wuhan are: (1) the first US case was quite severe and the patient received the antiviral remdesivir (was in development by Gilead for Ebola, but showing activity against coronaviruses) – it is now in testing in China; (2) the rigorous documentation of

An opinionated take on NEJM highlights for April 2018

Marc Herant April 30, 2018

Are we nearing an asymptote with implantable cardiac pumps? Severe heart failure is common, and spare hearts for transplant are rare, which has led to the development of implantable mechanical alternatives. In the last few decades, progress has been immense, and in the latest installment of a 3rd (4th?) generation pump, outcomes have reached a level where survival of several years is the rule. Still, at every iteration incremental improvement is less, and performance remains well behind what happens with transplant in terms of complications such as infection, stroke, or

A golden age for gene therapy: an opinionated take on NEJM highlights for December 2017

Marc Herant January 1, 2018

Successes in gene therapy for hemophilia B and A Hemophilia A and B are X-linked genetic diseases which prevents the formation of functional coagulant factors VII and IX respectively and cause a propensity to bleeding in about 20,000 people in just the US. The standard of care of intravenous administration of recombinant factors is effective but also burdensome, expensive, and does not fully prevent the disabling sequellae of the disease caused by repeated bleeding in the joints. A possible cure is to deliver a functional copy of the defective gene

Gene therapy, headaches, and tattoos: an opinionated take on NEJM highlights for November 2017

Marc Herant December 1, 2017

Two new therapies against a horrible congenital disease – but trouble ahead on pricing… Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is a genetic disease that declares itself at a few months of age, and typically leads to death before the second birthday. Two studies for two different therapies are reported in the Journal. First, the final results for a phase 3 placebo-controlled trial studying nusinersen (Spinraza, Sarepta, approved by FDA Dec 2016) therapy which involves monthly injections into the infant’s spine of an RNA-based drug. These show a clear beneficial effect over

Regeneration and mitigation: an opinionated take on NEJM highlights for March 2017

Marc Herant March 31, 2017

Gene therapy for sickle cell disease Typical diseases targeted by gene therapy are those for which there is a defect that prevents the production of a functional protein needed for normal life; remediation is achieved by inserting functioning copies of the gene, and fortunately, it is usually the case that expression at a low level is sufficient to greatly improve outcomes. The situation is different in sickle cell where the defective hemoglobin is actually harmful, and where success of gene therapy requires not only production normal hemoglobin, but replacement of

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Recon takes an analytical look behind select developments in healthcare