FUTURE OF CANCER THERAPIES AT MD ANDERSON

ON THE MISSION TO ‘MAKE CANCER HISTORY’

With the brilliant James Mancuso posing with the 'virtual'​ version of his boss!

April 28 2019—Privileged to visit Nobel Laureate Jim Allison’s lab where I was hosted by the very generous James Mancuso as I attempt to get a more grounded understanding of the future of immunotherapies and cancer.

A few of the things I learned:

1. We are making stellar progress in the mission to ‘make cancer history’ (isn’t THAT a great mission statement!) Faster than I thought, and I was already optimistic from visits to other labs. Incredible change though the next 10 years, and again through the 10 beyond. Long term, cancer doesn’t have a future. To me, the most inspiring game-changer of all.

2. The basic science is critical. So much of the progress comes not from ‘targeting the next cancer’ but by steadily grinding away, following pathways and learning more and more about how the immune system works, step-by-step, with each insight unlocking a new approach or opportunity.

3. The future is about generalized, off-the-shelf treatments, sometimes mixing two or three approaches in a single treatment to greatly boost efficacy. Among other things this suggests a far more cost-effective future compared with the super-targeted (but still very important) CAR-T cell therapies that custom re-engineer T-cells for individual patients.

4. There is a ‘long tail’ issue with cancer, where treatments that work for the majority sometimes will not work for one individual or for a specific cancer profile. A harsh reality of the field.

My thanks to James and his colleagues, from whom once again I learn the true meaning of generosity, commitment and ‘mission-focus.' The future of medicine is an amazing place.