BB BIOTECH AG

Novel drugs to battle cancer on the verge of market launch

DGAP-Media / 19.06.2017 / 09:44 Media release, June 19, 2017 Novel drugs to battle cancer on the verge of market launch

Immunotherapies were again the center of attention at the world's largest gathering of oncology specialists. BB Biotech has long been positioned in this promising theme. Oncology accounts for 41.5% of the company's investment portfolio.


The annual June meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) is the premier cancer research conference for scientists, medical practitioners and investors. Approximately 30 000 visitors attended this year's conference in Chicago from June 2 to 6, where more than 5 000 speeches and presentations were given. For the Investment Team of BB Biotech, the ASCO 2017 was an important opportunity near the mid-year mark to hear presentations by the companies in its portfolio and gather insights into the "hottest" scientific developments in cancer treatment today.

 

Fighting tumor cells with immunotherapies

Just like last year, the major talking point at this year's conference concerned the latest progress in immunotherapy clinical trials. Various cellular immunotherapies that reprogram the body's immune system to hunt down and destroy malignant tumor cells are being investigated. The modification of a patient's immune cells to detect specific antigens, or the appropriate points where tumor cells are vulnerable to immunotherapy, is the crucial aspect of these programs. So-called checkpoint inhibitors override basic mechanisms of immune system suppression that tumor cells exploit to avoid detection by the body's T-cells. The first drug from this class of immunotherapies has been granted marketing approval and now drug researchers are seeking to optimize effectiveness in combination with other immunotherapy cancer treatments.

Among the various new cancer gene therapies in development, the greatest progress has recently been made with chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies. In these therapies, T-cells are modified to detect and destroy malignant tumors. To achieve this, T-cells are extracted from a patient's blood, genetically modified in a laboratory, cultured and then reinfused into the patient. The "loaded" immune system cells then detect and attack the tumor cells. The main problem with this approach is that the modified T-cells can cause the body's immune system to overreact. This can lead to the cytokine release syndrome, in which T-cells also attack the body's own normal B lymphocytes. These are immune cells that secrete antibodies to protect the body against infection.