MedImmune and MD Anderson unite for improved immunotherapies

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and MedImmune, the bioresearch development subsidiary of AstraZeneca, have entered into a collaborative effort to develop new cancer immunotherapies, MD Anderson announced yesterday.

The partnership was made under the umbrella of MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Moon Shots Program, which endeavors to propel investigations in immunotherapies. The focus of the program is to cut down on cancer-related deaths with six “moon shots” that target eight different types of cancer. MedImmune, based in Gaithersburg, Md., is currently engaged in clinical trials for drugs that strengthen the body’s own immune response against cancer cells instead of therapies that act directly on tumors.

"Our collaboration with MedImmune, a leader in the field of immunotherapy, will draw on the strengths of both institutions to push ahead for more effective treatments for cancer patients," noted executive director of the moon shots immunotherapy platform Jim Allison, PhD, also a professor and chair of immunology at MD Anderson, via press release. Allison was a central figure in the development of a new cancer-treatment paradigm that homes in on the T cell immune checkpoint blockade. Tumors have a way of turning off T cell immune response. Researchers are now working on shutting that down by blocking receptors on the surface of T cells that tumors use to turn off immune response.

One antibody in particular, created by Allison, targets a checkpoint called CTLA-4 and this system was used the development of ipilimumab, which was the first U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drug for the treatment of late-stage melanoma, according to MD Anderson. For melanoma patients who were administered the drug during treatment, more than 20 percent experienced remissions of five years or more.

This mechanism of immunotherapy can be applied to many other cancers besides melanoma. "The era of immune system therapies for cancer is really just beginning," added Allison.

Agreement between MD Anderson and MedImmune is set to last three years and includes both translational and clinical research. This is the third in a series of collaborations with MD Anderson to further immunotherapy research.