With over 34,000 patients having already been treated worldwide, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell technology is revolutionizing the field of cancer therapy. Some studies have shown that up to 50% of patients treated with CAR T-cell therapies found lasting remission, with no additional treatment needed.
Since 2017 alone, eleven CAR T-cell products have been commercialized, with seven being approved by the US Food and Drug administration (FDA).
However, while big strides have been made in the field, and treatment results have been very promising, the majority of CAR T-cell therapies target hematological, or blood cancers alone, with all therapies currently coming with a very high price tag.
Today, the average cost of CAR T-cell therapy in the U.S. is between $300,000 and $600,000. Yet, with hospital time and post therapy care, the costs per patient could rise to over $1 million.
Recent coverage by MIT Technology Review explains the current process and expense by saying, “It’s not hard to see why CAR-T comes with a high price tag. Creating these therapies is a multistep process.
“First doctors harvest T cells from the patient. Those cells are then engineered outside the body using a viral vector, which inserts an artificial gene that codes for a chimeric antigen receptor, or CAR… The cells must then be grown in the lab until they number in the millions…
“It’s a high-tech and laborious process.”
But new breakthroughs in CAR T-cell technology look to not only bring the costs associated with the development and administration of the technology down, perhaps drastically, but also look to widen the field of targetable cancers, including solid tumors, with a single product.
As noted in the MIT Technology Review, “One way to cut costs is to produce the therapy in countries where drug development and manufacturing is significantly cheaper.”
Citing the MIT piece, Peter Choo, Chairman of CytoMed Therapeutics (NASDAQ: GDTC) said, “Indeed, producing CAR T-cell therapies in countries where manufacturing is significantly cheaper will bring down the costs.
“This is why CytoMed not only conducts our research and plans to manufacture our CAR T-cell therapies in Southeast Asia but has recently partnered with SunAct Cancer Institute for a Phase I/II clinical trial in India.
“Further, we look to develop an allogenic, off-the-shelf product that has the capability to treat a multitude of cancers, both solid tumors and blood and this is now in a Phase 1 first-in-human trial in Singapore.”
“By creating, trialing and manufacturing our off-the-shelf therapies in Asia, we believe we could have the ability to greatly increase patients access to this potentially lifesaving treatment, and to do so at a far lower cost than we currently see.”
Read more about CytoMed Therapeutics’ (NASDAQ: GDTC) novel, off-the-shelf allogenic cellular immunotherapies HERE
Or read more of the MIT Technology Review HERE
In early January 2025, the governments of Malaysia and Singapore announced the signing of an agreement to create a special economic zone to help bolster and attract global investment.
The special zone is located in Malaysia’s southernmost Johor state, bordering Singapore, and will offer tax breaks and incentives for 11 economic sectors including healthcare, manufacturing, aerospace, tourism and energy.
In a press conference, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said, “When negotiating the agreement, both sides have actively engaged stakeholders to ensure that the JS-SEZ (Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone) has the conditions to help our businesses grow together for the longer term.
“The greater potential for the JS-SEZ is not just about Singapore businesses going to Johor, but it’s about both sides working together to attract new investment projects globally.”
“Very rarely do you find two countries working together as a team. These two countries have a common strategy, to assist one another, to work and benefit from each other’s strengths,” added Malaysian Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim.
Within the coming five years, officials hope the tax breaks and incentives will attract 50 projects within the zone and create 20,000 skilled jobs.
Of the announcement, Peter Choo, Chairman of CytoMed Therapeutics (NASDAQ: GDTC) which is engaged in cancer biologics, said, “The world now has a new special economic zone with tax incentives in a vibrant, new and huge Southeast Asian market. This will surely attract significant new investments and business ideas, especially in healthcare due to rapidly aging Singapore and the region as well as due to Johor’s cost competitiveness in land and labor.
“For CytoMed, this is great news as we had the vision to set up our business in Johor back in 2018. Now, multi-national corporations are looking to set up in Johor.”
Read more about CytoMed Therapeutics (NASDAQ: GDTC) HERE
Or read more about the special economic zone HERE
The cancer therapeutics landscape is rapidly changing. It wasn’t long ago, 2017 to be exact, that the first chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy was approved by the FDA for use in hematological, or blood cancer therapies.
To date, over 34,000 patients have been treated with this breakthrough therapy, with some early clinical trials patients experiencing blood cancer remissions of a decade or more.
Yet, roughly 7 years after the first FDA approval, most CAR T-cell therapies continue to target blood cancers, and blood cancers alone. Due to the unique, hostile environment surrounding solid tumors and the physical barriers which impede “traditional” CAR T-cell infiltration, the therapy has, unfortunately, shown little efficacy in combating the majority of cancers.
However, a recent study published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, by a group of researchers, explores advances in CAR T-cell therapy for the targeting of solid tumors.
“After a decade of relatively modest results for solid tumors, recent clinical trials and patient reports have also started to yield promising outcomes in glioblastoma and other challenging solid tumor entities,” said Nature.
With solid tumors accounting for roughly 90% of adult cancers, positive outcomes shown in clinical trials are giving hope to tens of millions of cancer patients.
And one such clinical trial, the ANGELICA Trial, has just begun.
CytoMed Therapeutics (NASDAQ: GDTC), recently announced it has dosed its first clinical trial patient for “Allogeneic CAR-Gamma Delta T Cell Therapy in Patients with Advanced Solid Tumors or Hematological Malignancies.”
Notably, CytoMed’s therapeutic targets blood cancers and solid tumor cancers, which if successful could lead to a therapy with far more versatility than those of the past.
“Dosing the first patient in the ANGELICA Trial, CytoMed has reached a significant milestone as a clinical stage biopharma. The ANGELICA Trial aims to assess the safety and potential efficacy of an allogeneic CAR-T therapy in patients with advanced solid tumors or hematological malignancies,” said Peter Choo, CytoMed’s Chairman.
“This is different from the current CAR-T cell therapy that typically involves taking patient’s blood cells and modifying these cells by grafting an artificial protein, known as a chimeric antigen receptor, on the surface of T cells, a type of white blood cell…
“The ANGELICA Trial taps on blood drawn from eligible (healthy) donors, potentially improving the quality of CAR-T cells, reducing production costs and increasing patients’ accessibility to therapy,” said the company.
To review CytoMed’s press release on its ANGELICA Trial, and to keep up to date on further developments, visit HERE
Or, or access to the journal Nature Biotechnology report on CAR T therapies for solid tumors, visit HERE
Recent research conducted by DataM Intelligence shows the global CAR T-cell therapy market for certain cancers is expected to reach $11.5 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 24.3% during its forecast period.
Further, Nova One Advisor says the market for CAR T-cell therapies across a broad range of cancers is projected to be valued at $35.1 billion by 2033, in the US alone. Globally, the firm projects the market to reach $127.5 billion by 2033, with a 30.5% CAGR through its forecast period.
The DataM report, which is 176 pages in full, says, “Increasing research and development is generating next-generation CAR T treatments, such as those that use innovative engineering methods and target several antigens. In concern with a variety of cancers, the major developments increase therapy options and improve the effectiveness of Car T therapies.”
Regarding the DataM report, Peter Choo, Chairman of CytoMed Therapeutics (NASDAQ: GDTC) said, “Indeed, new CAR T treatments, like the next generation allogenic off-the-shelf CAR-Gamma Delta T Cell Therapy we’ve developed and have recently begun our first Phase I in-human trial with, are specifically designed to increase not only therapy options, but to allow for both solid and blood cancer targeting; rather than the majority of CAR T therapies which have traditionally only targeted hematologic cancers.”
While CAR T-cell treatments have already shown to be quite promising, DataM notes many patients cannot afford CAR T-cell therapy, due to its time-consuming manufacturing process and expensive cost, which frequently exceeds several hundred thousand dollars per patient.
This is where Chairman Peter Choo believes CytoMed’s technology could soon offer an advantage. The company is developing its patent-pending technology into gamma delta T cell and natural killer (NK) cell-based Immunotherapeutics as an “off-the-shelf” therapeutic.
Mr. Choo explains, “Capitalizing on Southeast Asia’s low cost infrastructure and by developing our technology as an off-the-shelf therapeutic, we aim to bring the costs of CAR T-cell therapies down significantly, opening life-saving treatment to a much larger patient pool.”
Coincidentally, DataM Intelligence says the fastest growing region for this high CAGR market is Asia, where CytoMed is located.
To learn more about CytoMed’s Phase 1 clinical trial, visit HERE
Or for access the DataM Intelligence report, visit HERE
Or for access to the Nova 1 Advisor report, visit HERE