Kite Pharma,
hopes to revolutionize the treatment of a common, deadly lymphatic
cancer, with a novel mix of highly trained lab techs and high-speed air
travel.
The Santa Monica company's treatment of non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma reprograms a patient's T-cells, the kind that are supposed to
fight disease, to seek and destroy only abnormal, cancerous lymph
cells, not the healthy ones crucial for human life. In order to do so, blood must be drawn from a patient,
refrigerated and flown to Kite's headquarters, where the cells are
modified, frozen and then flown back to doctors who re-inject them into
patients.
Although it could be a year or longer before the FDA approves its
treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, the clinical results are so
promising that Kite has forged ahead with constructing a
44,000-square-foot facility that would become its cancer-fighting nerve
center.
It's going up in El Segundo, better known for its cluster
of aerospace companies, because the city is right next to Los Angeles
International Airport, making it faster and easier in traffic-clogged
L.A. to ship and receive T-cell specimens."We have seen tumors
that originally failed every possible known treatment disappearing
within weeks from the infusion," Belldegrun said. "Tumors were melting
away." In addition to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Kite plans to use T-cell modification to treat leukemia and many other types of cancer. Kite's promising treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is called KTE-C19,
which is in a clinical trial. It involves attaching an antibody to a
T-cell that enables it to recognize and attack cancer cells. The testing
is expected to conclude next year and sales could begin in 2017,
assuming the Food and Drug Administration gives its approval.
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