TAMPA, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) - When it comes to cancer treatment, there’s a piece of the puzzle you might not ever consider; it’s the business of biotech. Startup companies are investing millions of dollars, and making breakthrough treatments available to those who need them most.
“It’s a miracle of modern science that I am here that’s for sure,” Britta Beningfield told Ivanhoe.
After her metastatic melanoma diagnosis, Britta was given only months to live. That was three years ago.
“I am still here, contrary to everything anyone would have expected,” she said.
In part, Britta may owe her life to what is going on behind the doors at Lion Biotechnologies.
Lion Biotechnologies is a small startup, but the company partnered with a major cancer center in a big way. They are part of a multi-million dollar clinical trial involving the newest cancer-fighting weapon, T-cell therapy.
The therapy involves expanding a patient’s T-cells isolated from their tumor, then infusing billions of them back into the body to attack the cancer.
“We’re sitting on an explosion right now, in not only the immunological knowledge about cancer, but the molecular knowledge of cancer,” Laszlo Radvanyi, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of Lion Biotechnologies told Ivanhoe.
Lion manufactures the T-cells and makes them available in a cost-effective way. Britta’s t-cells attacked the cancer, and won.
“I call them my little super champions,” Beningfield said.
“To see patients, like Britta, who really had a life threatening calamity actually completely reverse to normal with the help of the cell therapy is truly phenomenal,” Amod Sarnaik, MD, Oncologist at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL told Ivanhoe.
For Britta it’s a true masterpiece.
T-cell therapy has been used in clinical trials at major academic centers for several years, but Laszlo Radvanyi said companies like Lion are trying to find ways to make it cost-effective so it can be available to the public.
