LONDON — U.S. regulators have authorized a cutting-edge treatment relying on T cells for a rare cancer that arises in the body’s soft tissues, extending the power of immunotherapies to difficult-to-reach sarcomas.
The medicine, called Tecelra and developed by Adaptimmune Therapeutics, is what’s known as a T cell receptor therapy. The approach has similarities to the CAR-T therapies that have dramatically improved the treatment of some blood cancers, but it has tricks up its sleeve that allow it to target solid tumors, which CAR-Ts have struggled to fight.
The Food and Drug Administration granted Tecelra, also known as afami-cel, accelerated approval for patients with synovial sarcomas, which can form in muscles and ligaments throughout the body, the company said Thursday night. The one-time treatment is the first authorized medicine from Adaptimmune, which has operations split between Philadelphia and Oxford in the U.K.
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