Quote:Any feedback on the Cancer Moonshot?
Did it miss lunar orbit?
I shouldn't be so cynical really....

Any takeaways of relevance to NWBO?

Quote:X: Your panel is recommending a separate clinical trial network for immunotherapy. Why?

TJ: We probably shouldn’t have described it that way. We’re actually proposing a scientific network to create better access to clinical materials. Immunotherapy is on fire, it’s taking over the field of cancer. This particular recommendation tries to improve our understanding why certain patients respond and others fail. What are the underlying mechanisms? Even PD1 expression [the protein on cancer cells that several approved drugs, called checkpoint inhibitors, target so that the tumor can’t hide from the patient’s immune system] is not a clear discriminator between responders and non-responders[/b].

Immunologists feel the problem is much more complicated: Which cells are in the tumor microenvironment, what state they’re in, which proteins they’re expressing. There’s a lot of scientific inquiry, but we’re not doing it in a coordinated fashion. Academic groups are digging into the science but are under-resourced, and by and large not connected to the companies doing the trials. So let’s bring the scientists to the trials, whether industry or NCI-sponsored trials.