A message from Cartherics’ CEO Alan Trounson
The COVID pandemic has made it another difficult year for many. But it is important to keep in mind that in Australia one woman loses her battle with ovarian cancer every eight hours. That is why Cartherics supports World Ovarian Cancer Day and the 170 organisations which promote it worldwide.
On 8 May members of the World Ovarian Cancer Coalition come together to raise awareness of ovarian cancer and the need for global action to tackle this disease for every woman, no matter where she lives.
Research groups, large and small, contribute to the effort to find new treatments for the life-threatening disease. Thanks to their efforts, in the last six years there has been a change to several aspects of ovarian cancer treatment.
Among these advances are an increase in the options for how chemotherapy is given, advances in individualised treatment, and Cartherics’ specialty, promising new biological therapies designed to supercharge a patient’s immune system.
It is important that that the federal and state governments and funding bodies continue to support research groups pushing to develop innovative approaches and products. To that end, Cartherics is targeting ovarian and other cancers with two new immune cell therapies.
One involves aiming chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells at a neoantigen expressed by most ovarian cancer cells. The CAR-T cells are combined with a block to a key checkpoint inhibitor that prevents the T cells from killing tumours.
The other is an off-the-shelf immune stem cell therapy. Clinical trials for both treatments are slated to begin 2021-23.
Information about global cancer patient partner organisations and World Ovarian Cancer Day events is available at Get Involved.
Check it out and get involved!!