Showing posts with label fatetherapeutics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fatetherapeutics. Show all posts

Friday, December 13, 2019

'Natural Killer' Cancer Cell Treatment Advances; State Stem Cell Agency Pleased

The California stem cell agency this week touted a possible "off-the-shelf cancer killer" that the state enterprise is helping to develop with $4 million.

The company involved in the treatment is Fate Therapeutics, Inc., of San Diego, a publicly traded firm working on induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) that have been genetically engineered to enhance their anti-tumor activity. The product is called FT516.

Writing this week on the agency's blogKevin McCormack, senior director of communications at the agency, said,

"Fate Therapeutics has developed an off-the-shelf therapy (thanks to (agency funding) that could, theoretically, be stored at hospitals and clinics around the country and used whenever it’s needed for anyone who needs it."
McCormack said that a CAR-T approach uses a patient's own "re-engineered" cells to kill cancer tumors. He wrote, 
"But the thing that makes it so appealing – using the patient’s own cells – also makes it really complicated and expensive. Creating a custom-made therapy from each patient’s own cells takes time and costs a lot of money. But now (the Fate Therapeutics) approach could change that."
Fate uses NK (natural killer cells). Maxx Chatsko of the Motley Fool financial web site reported,
"It's the first cell product of any kind derived from a clonal master iPSC line to be evaluated in a clinical trial in the United States. The 'clonal master iPSC line' part essentially means it can be manufactured more easily than immunotherapies requiring cells to be extracted from patients. That's why it's called 'off the shelf.'"
McCormack continued, 
"At this year’s meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Fate announced that the first patient treated with this new approach seems to be doing very well. The patient had acute myeloid leukemia and wasn’t responding to conventional treatments. However, following treatment with Fate’s FT516 the patient responded quickly and...was able to leave the hospital and spend Thanksgiving with his family. 
"Equally impressive is that 42 days after being treated with FT516, the man showed no signs of leukemia in either his bone marrow or blood."
The product is being licensed exclusively to Fate by the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Fate Therapeutics' stock closed today at $18.79, down 13 cents. Its 52-week high was $22.82. The 52-week low was $11.00. Last September it raised $173 million in a stock offering.

Monday, December 05, 2011

Conflict of Interest: Harvard Researcher Resigns from IOM Inquiry into California Stem Cell Agency

One of the members of the Institute of Medicine panel conducting a 17-month investigation into the $3 billion California stem cell agency has resigned because of a conflict of interest involving a San Diego stem cell firm.

David Scadden, co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, withdrew last week after conferring with IOM officials concerning his connection to Fate Therapeutics, which lists him as a scientific founder.

In an email to the California Stem Cell Report, Scadden said,
"I have a relationship with a start-up company in CA and, after discussion, with the IOM, we concluded that it would constitute a conflict of interest. I would have enjoyed helping out, but didn't want to compromise the perception of objectivity of the report."
Fate Therapeutics does not hold an award from the California stem cell agency. It is not known whether the company has applied for CIRM funding. The agency does not release the names of applicants that are not approved.

We have queried the IOM about whether Scadden will be replaced on the now 13-member panel.

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