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Immunotherapy is a rapidly developing therapeutic approach that involves harnessing a patient’s immune system to fight disease, often cancer or immune disorders such as allergies. In recent years, the first immunotherapies for cancer have been trialled, approved and administered to patients; some offering amazing results.

Cellular immunotherapies, such as CAR-T or T-cell receptor therapies, have the potential to fight cancer and other disorders very effectively and provide a long lasting regression from illness. However, they are currently very expensive to produce and administer, making the final cost of the treatment very high. We also don’t fully understand why they work in some patients and not others. Finally, even in the patients they are effective in, there is the risk of very serious side effects.

The spotlight will aim to review advancements and current obstacles in the manufacture and administration of immunotherapies with a focus on consistency, safety and efficacy. We will look into potential indications of immunotherapies, what to consider in their development and how these therapies are going to evolve and change healthcare in the coming years.

Visit the spotlight - new posts weekly!

Features

Editorials and interviews

• Transitioning CAR T-cells from their “comfort zone”: an interview with John Maher
• Improving Alzheimer’s disease immunotherapy by increasing entry to brain 
• RegMedNet exclusive: Emory Personalized Immunotherapy Core
• RegMedNet exclusive: Cancer immunotherapy, regenerative medicine and C3i
• Why the FDA’s CAR-T approval sends strong signal to cell therapy industry: an interview with Martin Lamb
• Overcoming the obstacles to a commercially successful cell or gene therapy: an interview with Dr Nafees Malik
• Safeguarding standards at the UK Stem Cell Bank: an interview with Glyn Stacey

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Infographic

• RegMedNet exclusive: Immunotherapy: current landscapes and future development

Video

• RegMedNet exclusive: Next generation CAR-Treg therapies: an interview with Stéphane Boissel

Journal articles

• Immunological challenges and opportunities in regenerative medicine
• Recent results of immunotherapy and perspectives for advanced NSCLC
• Towards predictive biomarkers for immunotherapy response in breast cancer patients
• Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy for cancer: a basic research-oriented perspective

News

• Kymriah is first CAR-T therapy to be made available on the NHS
• Cell therapy weekly: CAR influence on T-cells key to improving immunotherapy
• Cell therapy weekly: Experimental hemophilia gene therapy to progress despite adverse immune response in two patients
• Cell therapy weekly: Severe spinal cord injury trial demonstrates favorable safety and improved motor function
• Cell therapy weekly: Japanese scientists target Parkinson’s disease with iPSC-derived dopaminergic progenitors
• Cell therapy weekly: Novartis faces production glitch over Kymriah
• Cell therapy weekly: FDA aims to advance gene therapies and T cells reprogrammed without the use of viral vectors
• Kymriah and Yescarta recommended for EU approval
• Cell therapy weekly: CCRM and GE Healthcare to assist in scale-up of degenerative disc disease therapy
• Cell therapy weekly: FDA indicates more guidance is to come on cell therapy manufacture
• Cell therapy weekly: Kymriah could be available in Japan and stem cells show benefits against multiple sclerosis
• Final draft guidelines from NICE recommend gene therapy for rare immune deficiency
• CGT Catapult to collaborate with Oxford MEStar and AK (Suzhou) Biomedical
• ISCT revises cell and gene therapy forecast following FDA approval of Novartis CAR-T therapy
• New mechanism for hair growth discovered