LLSC partners with BioCanRx to fund first-of-its-kind clinical trial in Canada to treat blood cancers

A new partnership between LLSC and BioCanRx will help Canadian scientists expand their ability to conduct clinical trials of CAR T therapy, an important new treatment for some blood cancers that have not responded to other treatments.

CAR T-cell therapy uses a patient’s own immune T cells to detect and kill cancer cells. The complex process involves extracting T cells from the blood and genetically modifying them in a lab to find and kill cancer cells. These supercharged cells are then put back into a patient’s bloodstream where they multiply and find and destroy cancer cells.

CAR T therapy is very personalized to each person and requires significant infrastructure and expertise to produce and deliver this treatment safely and successfully. Until now, Canada has been without the laboratory facilities to modify these all-important T cells. This has meant that Canadian researchers have been limited in their ability to lead CAR T clinical trials in Canada. Consequently, people who could benefit from the treatment have had to wait until therapies developed elsewhere were approved before being able to get access.

BioCanRx’s Canadian-led Immunotherapies in Cancer (CLIC-01) trial is unique because it is the first ever to develop and manufacture CAR T cells in Canada. Currently, if a person is to receive CAR T therapy, their T cells are sent to a lab outside of Canada for manufacturing. The trial will help to expand the ability to manufacture made-in-Canada CAR T cells and, ultimately, improve access to this life-saving treatment.

The study is led by Dr. Natasha Kekre, a hematologist at The Ottawa Hospital. Dr. Kekre has been leading BioCanRx’s Canadian-led Immunotherapies in Cancer (CLIC-01), which treats patients with relapsed/refractory blood cancers. In this new study, Dr. Kekre has used facilities in Ottawa and Victoria to manufacture the CAR-T cells for this early phase clinical trial with patient sites in Ottawa and Vancouver. LLSC is one of the funding partners in this important initiative, providing $500,000 this year to support the project.

Video: How CAR T therapy treats a blood cancer