In celebration of World Cancer Day, NovalGen Founder and CEO, Amit Nathwani, shares his insights about the company’s motivations for their work in cancer and treatments for patients.

What inspires you in your work on cancer treatments?
 
The key inspiration for our work in cancer is the fact that there is still a huge unmet need for many cancers. In some cases, life expectancy for patients following diagnoses is limited to less than twelve months.

What breakthrough discoveries has the company had so far?
 
We have evaluated a first in class ROR1 targeting T cell engager in subjects with haematological malignancies (CLL/Mantle Cell Lymphoma). Preliminary data from this first in human clinical trial shows that our T cell engager has activity. In some patients, the T cell engager has been effective in eradicating residual disease and putting patients into a complete response status. This is important for patients as going into a complete response state at the end of treatment is likely to be associated with improved progression – free survival and overall survival.

What advances have made the biggest impact in the treatment of cancer patients?
 
The development of small targeted molecules that attenuate the cancer causing pathways has been a great advance. In addition, recent progress with immunotherapy using check point inhibitors or CAR T cells is also transforming the lives of patients with cancer.

What are some of the biggest challenges you face in caring for patients with cancer?
 
Cancer is a catastrophic disease and aside from the emotional aspects of diagnosis of cancer in patients, the key challenge is to develop drugs that work in many hard-to-treat cancers. Our hope is that with progress in medical science, we can develop an array of new drugs that results in cures for patients with cancer with minimal toxicity.
 

Visit NovalGen’s website.

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