Immunooncology: Can the Right Chimeric Antigen Receptors T-Cell Design Be Made to Cure All Types of Cancers and Will It Be Covered?

Abstract

Immunooncology (IO) is the buzz word today and it has everyone doing IO research. If we look back at the history of cancer treatment, the survival rate was measured in months which, according to oncologists, was a lot back then because the mortality rate in most cancers was 100%. However, most traditional chemotherapies were not well tolerated because they would kill both cancerous and healthy cells, which lead to major side effects such as loss of hair, nausea and vomiting, and risk of infection. Survival was better but not much better depending on the type of cancer and the patient's own genetic and physiological make-up. IO therapies target specific receptors on the cancer cells. However, with more advance technologies, the cost to develop these types of therapies increases significantly because the biology is more complex and it is more difficult to produce. Find out why these therapies are more complex and therefore more expensive. But the enhanced efficacy of these therapies does justify the cost.