Following the news that the first patient in the UCL Great Ormond Street Insititute of Child Health’s (GOSH) Phase I TvT CAR7 trial to treat pediatric relapsed/refractory T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, has gone into remission;

James Donagher, Oncology & Hematology Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view:

“While the GOSH TvT CAR7 trial has only produced such excellent results in just one patient so far, this is a significant event—not just for T-ALL* patients, but for patients with other cancers too. If a target can be idenfitifed, this CRISPR base-editing technology can be used in other hematological diseases beyond T-ALL. However, this will take some time, and GlobalData does not forecast a marketing authorization of a commercial CAR-T product specifically for T-ALL in the near future.

“The CAR-T cells that were used in this trial, dubbed BE CAR-7, were donated by healthy donors and were modified to elicit selective toxicity to cancer cells expressing the CD7 antigen. Previous academic and commercial approaches to target CD7 has delivered mixed results. Effective therapies that improve the overall survival (OS) of patients after relapse is a key unmet need in this space, as one T-ALL relapse greatly increases the risk of another.”

* T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia; this is a specific type of leukemia