{"id":67657,"date":"2019-02-16T17:05:56","date_gmt":"2019-02-16T15:05:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=67657"},"modified":"2019-02-07T09:25:41","modified_gmt":"2019-02-07T07:25:41","slug":"16-05-36","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=67657","title":{"rendered":"Could an immunotherapy treatment from Israel cure cancer?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Israel21c\"<\/a>Could an immunotherapy treatment from Israel cure cancer?<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

Brian Blum<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Purified, activated immune cells from a healthy donor are injected into the recipient until the immune system can hunt down cancer cells on its own.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nThe \u201cclean room\u201d at Immunovative. Photo: courtesy<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Ten years ago, Dr. Michael Har-Noy, founder and CEO of a Jerusalem-based startup developing an immunotherapy treatment that could potentially cure cancer, lamented that the fight against the dreaded disease \u201cis a battle we are losing.\u201d Today, Har-Noy\u2019s company is getting closer to turning the tide.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the past decade, Immunovative Therapies<\/strong><\/span><\/a> has conducted dozens of clinical trials, opened branches in California, Arizona and Thailand, and raised $35 million.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the biggest boost came from the publicity surrounding immunotherapy pioneer Jim Allison, who won this year\u2019s Nobel Prize in chemistry.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ten years ago, \u201cWe couldn\u2019t get a venture capitalist to open a business plan if they saw the words \u2018immunotherapy.\u2019 They\u2019d say, \u2018That doesn\u2019t work in cancer,\u2019\u201d Har-Noy tells ISRAEL21c.<\/span><\/p>\n

Following Allison\u2019s work that proved immunotherapy\u2019s efficacy, \u201canyone with \u2018immune\u2019 in their name is now able to raise funds,\u201d Har-Noy says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, consulting firm Transparency Market Research predicts that the global market value of cancer immunotherapy drugs will reach $124 billion by 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Michael Har-Noy, founder
\nof Immunovative Therapies. Photo: courtesy<\/em><\/span>
\n<\/p>\n

Is the excitement warranted? After all, science is filled with promising approaches that don\u2019t pan out in the end. In the case of immunotherapy, the answer seems to be yes. Immunotherapy is the only current mode of treatment that could actually cure cancer, Har-Noy says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unlike chemotherapy, which as its name implies uses noxious chemicals to kill cancer cells (along with a lot of healthy ones), immunotherapy enlists the body\u2019s own immune system to do the heavy lifting.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, while chemotherapy is often effective, it\u2019s not always permanent. If even a single cancer cell survives, it can begin to replicate and start the process of tumor-building all over again.<\/span><\/p>\n

The goal with immunotherapy is to \u201ctrain\u201d the immune system to hunt down and destroy every last cancer cell, including those in metastatic tumors resistant to chemotherapy.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, today\u2019s immunotherapy drugs \u201conly work in 20 percent of patients,\u201d Har-Noy says. \u201cAnd they\u2019re still toxic. That means 80 percent of patients get no clinical benefit but they get the toxicity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Nor does immunotherapy work in some cancers \u2013 including colorectal cancer, which is among the three biggest killers worldwide. That\u2019s one reason Immunovative is focusing first on tackling bowel, colon and liver cancers.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are relatively few drugs to treat colorectal cancer and \u201cthe ones that exist are relatively ineffective, only extending life by a matter of months, not years,\u201d explains Har-Noy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Immune cells from a healthy donor<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Immunovative process starts by collecting immune cells from a normal, healthy donor. There\u2019s no need to \u201cmatch\u201d the donor cells to the recipient.<\/span><\/p>\n

Immunovative technicians purify and culture the donor\u2019s healthy T-cells in a bioreactor, which causes them to multiply and activate without any genetic engineering or manipulation. Immunovation has a patent on the new immune cells, which it calls AlloStim.<\/span><\/p>\n

The AlloStim cells are next injected into the cancer patient. While the body will reject these alien cells, subsequent injections lead the patient to develop immunity to the foreign cells and to create more of a particular type of immune cell called \u201cmemory Th1,\u201d which is normally suppressed in cancer patients.<\/span><\/p>\n

Immunovative lab technicians at work in Jerusalem. Photo: courtesy<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The final step is injection of AlloStim intravenously. The body\u2019s new abundance of Th1 cells rush to the tumors and, in conjunction with existing \u201cnatural killer\u201d cells, begin decimating the tumors. As more AlloStim is injected, the body creates its own tumor-specific Th1 immune cells, essentially vaccinating itself against the cancer.<\/span><\/p>\n

The AlloStim process also \u201cteaches\u201d the immune system to seek out similar cancerous tumors throughout the body. This means it will spring into action any time it detects the same type of cance, even years after treatment.<\/span><\/p>\n

One donor can potentially produce enough cells to treat up to 1,000 patients, making the resulting drug affordable even to economically disadvantaged patients.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to AlloStim, Har-Noy and his team are working on a cancer vaccine called CryoVax that combines AlloStim with cryoablation (a process where a tumor is killed inside the body using extreme cold) for tumors that resist initial treatment, as well as a personalized cancer vaccine dubbed AlloVax.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to cancer, Immunovative\u2019s treatment is now being tested on five HIV-positive patients. While the clinical trial is small, \u201cthe results are very promising,\u201d Har-Noy says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do no harm<\/span><\/p>\n

Har-Noy became interested in the immunology of cancer while in medical school, when he saw patients getting chemotherapy and doctors spending a lot of their time treating the side effects of the chemo. Seeing patients suffer so horribly didn\u2019t square with his understanding of the Hippocratic Oath of physicians to \u201cdo no harm.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Science understands how the immune system works with certain viruses and bacteria. \u201cSo I thought if we could harness and control it, why not with cancer, too?\u201d he wondered. \u201cThat became my life\u2019s work.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Har-Noy immigrated to Israel in 2003, and launched Immunovative in 2004 at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem. A $300,000 grant from Israel\u2019s Chief Scientist allowed Har-Noy to do trials on monkeys.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2009, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave Immunovative permission to begin human trials. Har-Noy opened a clinic in the San Diego area.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut just before the first patients arrived, we hit a regulatory glitch,\u201d Har-Noy recalls. \u201cThe FDA said we needed preclinical data from not one but two animal models.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Immunovative\u2019s California lab had signed up some \u201cvery sick patients with very high tumor burdens, most of them bedridden.\u201d Har-Noy didn\u2019t want to start all over again in animals. That\u2019s how the company got to Thailand.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA colleague of mine from medical school was appointed as head of the clinical trial unit at the National Cancer Institute of Thailand,\u201d Har-Noy explains. The Thai government gave Har-Noy permission to treat seven patients in California and the FDA agreed to use that data in lieu of the second animal model.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Southeast Asia connection was not just opportunistic. According to the World Health Organization, almost half of all new liver cancer cases occur in China.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLiver cancer is endemic in that part of the world,\u201d Har-Noy says. \u201cIt\u2019s four times the frequency of the US, probably because of hepatitis B infections in young people who are now aging.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Of the 42 patients in the San Diego clinical trial for Immunovative, 11 survived for a year, nine were still alive after two years and four are still with us after four years.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese patients had about a 60-day life expectancy,\u201d Har-Noy points out. \u201cThe data was pretty surprising.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Immunovative now has a facility in Phoenix, opened to collaborate with a leading researcher who lives in Arizona and is associated with MD Anderson Cancer Center. Har-Noy divides his time between Jerusalem, Phoenix and Thailand.<\/span><\/p>\n

Immunovative employs teams in Jerusalem, Phoenix and Thailand. Photo: courtesy<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have 1.4 million frequent flyer miles on United and another 800,000 on El Al,\u201d he quips. The company employs 25 in Jerusalem\u2019s Malcha Technology Park, 12 in Phoenix and eight in Thailand.<\/span><\/p>\n

Immunovative has 200 people currently enrolled in clinical trials. In 2019, the company will be looking to raise up to $30 million to launch phase III studies, hire a professional pharmaceutical management team and develop an automated production system. An IPO in the next few years is also on Har-Noy\u2019s radar.<\/span><\/p>\n

For more information, click here<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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Could an immunotherapy treatment from Israel cure cancer? Brian Blum Purified, activated immune cells from a healthy donor are injected into the recipient until the immune system can hunt down cancer cells on its own. The \u201cclean room\u201d at Immunovative. Photo: courtesy Ten years ago, Dr. Michael Har-Noy, founder and CEO of a Jerusalem-based startup […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67657"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67657"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67673,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67657\/revisions\/67673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}