Drugs

Companies, Partners, Expand I/O Therapies

The Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development says that immuno/oncology (I/O) research aimed at treating at least 28 types of tumors “is taking alliances between pharma, biotech companies, and universities and cancer centers to new heights.” The latest Tufts Impact Report (subscription or purchase required) says that more than 130 biotech and 20 drug companies are developing I/O therapies.

There are many challenges involved in developing I/O therapies, the report says. Developers are looking for validated biomarkers that will increase the likelihood of clinical success, shorten development time, and reduce costs. In addition, the Tufts experts say, because I/O therapy is essentially a personalized medicine, organizations running clinical trials will be harder pressed to find sufficient volunteers from even more narrowly defined populations that I/O therapies seek to address.

The range of tumors in clinical trials spanned 10 liquid cancers and 18 solid tumors in 2013-15, Tufts says. The lead I/O technology has been cell engineering using one of three methods — the CAR-T approach that manipulates a patient’s own T cells against their cancer, the TCR approach in which T cells are engineered and used “off the shelf” in multiple patients, or natural killer cell receptor engineering.

AstraZeneca, Roche, and Merck lead the drug industry in I/O alliances with small biotech and other enterprises. Tufts says the alliances are combining myriad I/O cancer therapies involving various combinations of new I/O monoclonal antibodies, cell therapies, vaccines, and small molecules.

The analysis found that drug companies are working with 13 leading universities and cancer centers and that Vice President Biden’s “moon shot” to cure cancer is likely to accelerate I/O research and development at universities and cancer centers.

The number of I/O alliances between pharma/big biotech and small enterprises grew from six in 2013 to 58 in 2015 as a result of unprecedented high patient complete response rates in leukemia due to novel product discoveries, the report says. Funds the partners committed to support joint I/O research increased from $2.8 billion in 2013 to $22.5 billion in 2015. Tufts cautions that the figures are only a partial picture, since commitments were disclosed for only 87 of 111 partnerships.

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