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Current Challenges Facing Ex Vivo ¾«¶«´«Ã½ T Cell Therapy

Despite the potential benefit that ex vivo ¾«¶«´«Ã½ T cell therapy might provide to patients, many eligible patients are not receiving this treatment option.² The Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) reported that, in 2022, only ~3500 first ex vivo ¾«¶«´«Ã½ T cell infusions were administered in the United States, with the largest number (1747) going to patients with large B-cell lymphoma.¹⁵ Therefore, using diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) as an example, if ~10,000 US patients were eligible yearly for ¾«¶«´«Ã½ T cell therapy, only a fraction (less than 20%) of these eligible patients may actually be treated with ex vivo ¾«¶«´«Ã½ T cell therapy today.^2,15,16

Why are all eligible patients not receiving ex vivo ¾«¶«´«Ã½ T cell therapy?

There are many factors that are currently limiting the use of ex vivo ¾«¶«´«Ã½ T cell therapy, including patient-, treatment-, and healthcare professional-related factors.^{1-3,5-7,10,17-19} Receiving ex vivo ¾«¶«´«Ã½ T cell therapy is one of the more complex and challenging oncology treatment experiences, requiring a complex, lengthy, and expensive manufacturing process; it includes the need for specialized facilities, cells to be harvested and transported to one of a few manufacturing sites, and significant production time.^2-5 Time from referral to infusion of ex vivo ¾«¶«´«Ã½ T cell therapy can take several months.⁴ Our goal at Umoja is to reduce nearly all of these barriers with our in vivo programs so that all patients in need can receive this groundbreaking treatment option.