Leveraging the body’s immune system to fight disease is not a new concept. In fact, the mechanisms of history’s most significant advance in the fight against cancer was likely first observed by New York surgeon William B. Coley who, in 1891, injected a Streptococcus virus into a patient with an inoperable bone cancer, causing the tumour to shrink.1
According to World Health Organization stats, cancer is the second leading cause of death globally, responsible for 8.8 million deaths in 2015; the number of new cases is expected to rise by about 70% during the next 20 years, to about 22 million annually.2 Growth in therapeutics in this sector is also expected to increase.
Ever since Coley’s first experiments, the science behind immunotherapies has been growing increasingly stronger. Recent advances in T-cell engineering are fuelling more investment and innovation at a dramatic pace. Why? Because the ability to leverage the body’s immunity has become a practical reality. Based on a fast-accumulating body of knowledge, the industry is exploring new targets while overcoming the therapy’s drawbacks and expanding its utility to fight more blood-based cancers with fewer side-effects … and take on tumour-generating cancers as well.3
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