"We need to better understand which patients we should target against. I think the evolution of CAR T is understanding beyond the blood tumors into the solid tumors, and that I think is more challenging," Macrae told ScienceBoard.net at the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT) 2022 annual meeting in Washington, DC.

However, if the industry is successful with creating allogeneic forms of the therapy "that could be given off-the-shelf" to patients urgently, then cancer could eventually become a "chronic disease of living," Macrae said.

Six CAR T-cell therapies have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. All are approved for the treatment of blood cancers. When it comes to the use of CAR T cells to treat solid tumors, advances are hard to come by. However, research on CAR T cells is continuing a pace, including hundreds of ongoing clinical trials.

"Like with all scientific discoveries, there is a moment where everyone thinks it's the best thing since sliced bread -- it'll solve everything. And then, a moment of reality where the despair that it isn't as good as it was thought. And then, a gradual evolution of understanding of which patients it does the best in," Macrae said.

Watch the video below to learn more.

Precision BioSciences presents preclinical data for gene editing therapies
Precision BioSciences is scheduled to display preclinical data for its Arcus-based gene editing studies at the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy’s...

MASTER technology could transform CAR T-cell therapy
A new technology that helps CAR T cells attack cancer cells more aggressively than conventional methods has been published by researchers from North Carolina....

CAR T-cells show preliminary efficacy, safety as solid-tumor treatment
Researchers presented phase I/II preliminary clinical trial data demonstrating the safety and efficacy of a new CAR T-cell therapy that can be used as...

FDA approves Kite CAR T therapy Yescarta
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved axicabtagene ciloleuce (Yescarta), a CAR T-cell therapy manufactured by Kite, a Gilead company....

Anixa Biosciences initiates new CAR-T clinical trial
Anixa Biosciences initiated a phase I trial evaluating its CAR-T cell therapy at the Moffitt Cancer Center.

IASO Bio, Innovent CAR T-cell therapy receives orphan drug designation
IASO Biotherapeutics and Innovent Biologics jointly announced that the Office of Orphan Products Development at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration...