Can CAR-T Therapies Be Made More Affordable and Accessible?

Friday - April 12 2024, 20:46 UTC - 7 months ago

CAR-T therapies, which are typically reserved for patients who have exhausted other treatment options, can cost up to half a million dollars. Efforts are being made in countries like Brazil and India to make them more affordable through local manufacturing, and companies are developing new technologies to potentially make them more effective and cost-efficient. As demand continues to grow, finding ways to make CAR-T therapies more accessible is crucial.

CAR-T therapies have been hailed as a breakthrough in cancer treatment, with the ability to engineer a patient's own cells to fight the disease. However, these therapies come with a high price tag and are typically reserved for patients who have exhausted other options. Last week, the FDA approved Carvykti, a CAR-T product for multiple myeloma, as a second-line therapy, making it available to more patients. But for the vast majority of patients around the globe, CAR-T remains out of reach.

The reason for the high cost of CAR-T therapies is the lengthy and complex manufacturing process. T cells must be harvested from the patient and then engineered outside the body using a viral vector. This process, along with the patient undergoing chemotherapy to rid their body of existing T cells, can cost up to half a million dollars. However, some estimates put the true cost of CAR-T therapies at over a million dollars, when factoring in hospital time and care for adverse reactions.

Efforts are being made to make CAR-T therapies more affordable and accessible. In countries like India, where the therapy was developed and tested, the lower cost of labor has helped to reduce the cost of CAR-T. In Brazil, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation has partnered with a US-based nonprofit to develop local manufacturing capabilities, with a potential cost of only $30,000. Additionally, companies are developing technologies such as in vivo strategies and fusion proteins, which could potentially make CAR-T therapies more effective and cost-efficient.

Despite these efforts, demand for CAR-T therapies often outweighs supply, leading to long wait times for patients. As pediatric oncologist Crystal Mackall pointed out, allowing doctors to make CAR-T therapies for their own patients may be a tempting solution. Companies such as Umoja Biopharma and Capstan Therapeutica are also exploring new approaches to CAR-T manufacturing, using techniques such as viral vectors and fusion proteins. InviCRO, a medical imaging company, is also offering services to companies looking to develop cell and gene therapies, potentially making the process more streamlined and cost-effective.

As the demand for CAR-T therapies continues to grow, it is crucial to find ways to make these life-saving treatments more accessible and affordable for patients around the world.