CAR-T cell therapy (Kymriah)
Terapia celular CAR-T (Kymriah)
- Date
- 2017 · confidence high
- Place
- University of Pennsylvania and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, United States; Novartis
- Credited to
- Zelig Eshhar (Weizmann, concept, 1989); Carl June and Bruce Levine (Penn); patient Emily Whitehead (2012); approved by the FDA in August 2017
- People
- 👤 Carl H. June1953–👤 Zelig Eshhar1941–2025
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
A patient's T cells genetically modified to recognise and destroy leukaemia cells, then reinfused as a living drug. It produces complete remissions in leukaemias with no other options.
What it led to
- Living medicines and the individualised manufacture of therapies
- Prices of hundreds of thousands of dollars and decentralised manufacturing in hospitals
- CAR-T therapies against autoimmune diseases and solid tumours
Built on
- Monoclonal antibodies (hybridoma technique)1975
- Gene therapy (ADA-SCID, Luxturna, Zolgensma)1990-2017
- gene therapy (lentiviral vectors)
- T-cell immunology
Made possible
- Allogeneic CAR-T (cells)
- CAR-T for lupus
- TIL therapies (tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes)