Pascal Touchon – VJRegenMed

Remaining barriers in commercializing advanced therapies

Simon Ng — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 11:36:57 +0000

Pascal Touchon, President & CEO, Atara Biotherapeutics, San Francisco, CA, addresses issues relating to the commercialization of cell and gene therapies. Major challenges remain in terms of logistics and delivery. Off-the-shelf allogeneic therapies can be given to patients quicker than autologous therapies, as in the case of tabelecleucel, a novel CAR-T cell therapy which can be delivered to patients in three days. He additionally highlights reimbursement issues for these one-off treatments. This interview took place at Meeting on the Mesa 2021.

ATA3219, ATA3271 & ATA188: T-Cell immunotherapy products in development

Simon Ng — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 11:36:56 +0000

Pascal Touchon, President & CEO, Atara Biotherapeutics, San Francisco, CA, describes the pipeline of Atara Biotherapeutics including the ATA3219, an anti-CD19 allogeneic T-cell immunotherapy targeting B-cell malignancies, as well as ATA3271, a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy targeting mesothelin for solid tumors. He additionally discusses the latest results from the Phase I/II EMBOLD study (NCT03283826) of ATA188, a T-cell immunotherapy that targets Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in patients with progressive multiple sclerosis. This interview took place at Meeting on the Mesa 2021.

Remaining challenges in developing cell therapies for cancer

Simon Ng — Thu, 25 Nov 2021 18:05:21 +0000

Pascal Touchon, President & CEO, Atara Biotherapeutics, San Francisco, CA, discusses the current progress in successfully developing cell therapies for liquid and solid tumors. In the field of hematological malignancies, cell therapies need to improve their response rate and durability of remission in patients, whereas in solid tumors, developing treatments that are as effective as ones used for liquid tumors remain a challenge. Improving in vivo persistence of cell therapies is one strategy to develop treatments that are more efficacious against solid tumors, as in the case of ATA2271, an chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy targeting mesothelin. This interview took place at Meeting on the Mesa 2021.

The current landscape of allogeneic CAR T-cell therapies

Simon Ng — Thu, 25 Nov 2021 18:05:19 +0000

Pascal Touchon, President & CEO, Atara Biotherapeutics, San Francisco, CA, provides an overview of allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies in development. He describes ATA3219, a novel anti-CD19 CAR-T cell therapy developed for B-cell malignancies, as well as ATA2271, a mesothelin-targeted CAR-T immunotherapy for solid tumors. Tabelecleucel is an additional CAR-T cell therapy that treats Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD) following hematopoietic cell or solid organ transplantation. This interview took place at Meeting on the Mesa 2021.

ATA188 in EBV+ progressive multiple sclerosis

admin_vjr_user — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 13:47:08 +0000

Latent Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection in B cells is associated with an increased risk of the development of multiple sclerosis (MS), so it is believed that addressing the EBV infection in MS patients could lead to significant improvement in their symptoms. Pascal Touchon, President & CEO, Atara Biotherapeutics, San Francisco, CA, describes the ongoing Phase I/II EMBOLD trial (NCT03283826) assessing the safety and efficacy of ATA188, an allogeneic EBV T-cell product that targets EBV-infected B-cells in patients with progressive MS. It is hoped that ATA188 could become the first approved treatment that reverses disability in progressive MS. This interview took place during the Cell & Gene Meeting on the Mediterranean 2021 virtual conference.

Next-generation CAR T-cell therapies for advanced mesothelioma

admin_vjr_user — Fri, 30 Apr 2021 10:09:57 +0000

Pascal Touchon, President & CEO, Atara Biotherapeutics, San Francisco, CA, introduces an ongoing Phase I trial (NCT04577326) investigating the safety of ATA2271 in treating advanced mesothelioma. ATA2271 is an autologous chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy that targets mesothelin, which is overexpressed in many solid tumors. ATA2271 incorporates novel 1XX CAR signaling and PD-1 dominant negative receptor (DNR) checkpoint inhibition technologies, which results in reduced T cell exhaustion and improved functional persistence. These technologies are also utilized in ATA3271, an allogeneic equivalent of ATA2271 being developed that leverages Atara’s EBV T-cell platform. This interview took place during the Cell & Gene Meeting on the Mediterranean 2021 virtual conference.

Tabelecleucel in EBV-associated PTLD

admin_vjr_user — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 16:52:02 +0000

Pascal Touchon, President & CEO, Atara Biotherapeutics, San Francisco, CA, describes the Phase III MATCH (NCT03392142) and ALLELE (NCT03394365) clinical trials investigating the efficacy and safety of tabelecleucel, an allogeneic EBV-specific T cell therapy, for the treatment of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD) following hematopoietic cell or solid organ transplantation. Results have demonstrated an objective response rate of 50% and a two-year overall survival rate of 80%, which is promising given the median life expectancy in this patient group following first-line therapy is 2-3 months. This interview took place during the Cell & Gene Meeting on the Mediterranean 2021 virtual conference.

Accelerating commercialization in advanced therapies

admin_vjr_user — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 10:57:58 +0000

Pascal Touchon, President & CEO, Atara Biotherapeutics, San Francisco, CA, describes a panel discussion that took place at the Cell & Gene Meeting on the Mediterranean 2021 virtual conference, in which leading experts discussed how the field can accelerate the commercialisation of cell and gene therapies. He highlights challenges associated with the regulation of these innovative therapies and proposes that regulatory agencies need to work closely with the industry in order to establish the critical criteria required to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of cell and gene therapies. This interview took place during the Cell & Gene Meeting on the Mediterranean 2021 virtual conference.