Philly biotech to deliver first-of-its-kind cancer therapy | Philly Health Insider
And IV fluid shortages hit local hospitals
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Good morning. Today, we have an inside look at a Philly biotech that’s gearing up to make its first doses of a groundbreaking treatment for a rare type of cancer.
Plus, Pennsylvania is dealing with the nation’s largest whooping cough outbreak, local hospitals are feeling Hurricane Helene’s impact through national shortages of IV fluids, and Philly is seeing the first drop in overdose deaths in five years — but far too many residents are still dying, and racial disparities are growing.
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— Aubrey Whelan and Alison McCook, Inquirer health reporters, @aubreyjwhelan and @alisonmccook.
In August, a biotech in Philly’s Navy Yard got some great news: The FDA gave a green light to its first-of-its-kind therapy for a rare type of cancer. The company expects its first patient orders will arrive within a couple of weeks, opening a new chapter in medicine’s ongoing search for a therapy that converts the body’s own immune system into a cancer-killing machine.
There is a lot riding on the treatment, called Tecelra: It’s the first new therapy in years for synovial sarcoma, and the first that works by modifying a patient’s own immune cells to target a solid tumor. A similar therapy, CAR-T, has been a game changer in blood cancers, but those represent only 10% of all cancers. Could Tecelra point the way to more game-changing therapies for solid tumors?
That’s the hope of Dennis Williams, the senior vice president for late-stage development at Adaptimmune, who equated the experience of getting Tecelra to the market to the highs and lows that come with climbing a mountain range. “This, at the moment, is the highest peak for me.”
Click here for an inside look at Adaptimmune, and its detailed process for developing personalized treatments for each patient.
The latest news to pay attention to
Whooping cough cases are skyrocketing in Pennsylvania, with the state reporting 2,165 cases of the serious bacterial infection by late last month — more than any other state in the country. We spoke to local physicians about what’s behind the rise and what they’re doing to combat it: CHOP, for example, has started requiring some staff to mask again.
This summer, an influential state committee said Philly shouldn’t have spent settlement money from lawsuits against opioid makers on a revitalization project in Kensington, the neighborhood hit hardest by the opioid crisis. Last week, the committee partially reversed that decision, approving $4.1 million that went toward projects like school repairs and rent assistance. But they maintained that the city shouldn’t have funded a home-repair program and small-business supports in the neighborhood. We have more on the ruling, and what comes next.
Gemma Biotherapeutics, the new gene therapy venture from research scientist Jim Wilson, is getting up to $100 million from Brazil’s health ministry to bring treatments for rare disease to market there. Gemma, which recently spun out of Wilson’s former employer, the University of Pennsylvania, will develop drugs for six genetic disorders that affect the central nervous system.
Damage from Hurricane Helene has reached the Philadelphia area, with shortages of IV fluids reported in some hospitals after a major supplier shut down because of the storm. Main Line Health is now rehydrating some patients with Gatorade and electrolyte drinks; Penn is administering some medications orally instead of through an IV drip; and many local hospitals are closely monitoring supplies.
This week’s big number: 1,122.
That’s the number of Philadelphia residents who died of overdoses in 2023, representing a 7% drop from the year before. (This count does not include everyone who died in Philadelphia city limits that year; while the city hasn’t put out finalized data on the total number of overdose deaths here, state data suggest 1,316 overdose deaths, a 6% decrease.)
But overdose death rates are actually increasing among Black and Hispanic Philadelphians, even as fewer white Philadelphians are dying of overdoses. Black men are particularly at risk: The overdose death rate for Black Philadelphians last year was twice as high as the city’s overall overdose death rate.
It’s a sign, experts say, that more has to be done to reach groups who are at increasing risk of an overdose death, but haven’t received as much support in an epidemic that’s still at crisis levels: Although fatal overdoses decreased 10% between April 2023 and April 2024, that still means 100,000 people are dying of drug overdoses every year.
Each week, we dig into safety inspections at area hospitals. Up this week are three former Aria Health hospitals acquired by Jefferson in 2016 and now operating collectively: Jefferson Torresdale Hospital and Jefferson Frankford Hospital in Philadelphia, and Jefferson Bucks Hospital in Langhorne.
State investigators looked into three complaints at these hospitals between February and July, though the reports do not specify which campus inspectors visited. No problems were identified.
As the program manager for community outreach at Jefferson’s Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Yawei Song has taken some unusual steps to make cancer screenings more appealing to patients. The center has hosted cancer bingo, quizzo nights, and even rolled out a giant inflatable colon.
It’s important, Song says, to tailor events to the communities Jeff is trying to reach. “Communities are changing all the time; it’s never like one framework fits all,” she said. Lately, she has focused on reaching Asian Americans in Philly, after new data have shown cancer rates are rising nationally in that population.
Read her interview with The Inquirer to learn more about how her team is working with Asian American communities.
Andre “Dre” A. Boyd Sr. has been appointed the new CEO of Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic, which has four hospitals in the Philadelphia region. He’ll take over from current CEO Jim Woodward on Jan. 6.
At the same time, Boyd, who was previously chief operating officer at Cincinnati’s Christ Hospital Health Network, will also take the reins at another Trinity-owned health system: Holy Cross Health, which has two hospitals outside Washington, D.C.
Here’s what 15 years of drug discovery research at Temple University have netted: more than $35 million in external funding from research grants and contract research, 180-plus published articles, and 30 patent filings.
That’s according to the founder of the Moulder Center for Drug Discovery Research, Magid Abou-Gharbia, who came to Temple after more than 25 years in pharma, where he helped discover Effexor and other major medicines.
Abou-Gharbia used his background to help the Moulder Center investigate a promising drug candidate, which research in rats suggests may one day help combat alcoholism. “I’m very blessed that in my career, even in pharma, that I have very good, talented people working with me,” Abou-Gharbia said.
Click here to read more about Temple’s efforts to contribute to the drug discovery pipeline.
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