Project: GO-TILT – Getting Better Outcomes with Tumour Infiltrating Lymphocyte Therapy
Principal Investigators: Manoj Lalu, Dean Fergusson
What is the project you are working on in partnership with BioCanRx? What is your end goal with this project?
Our new research project is called Getting Better Outcomes with Tumour Infiltrating Lymphocyte Therapy (GO-TILT). It builds off the success of the CAR-T cell therapy program (called GO-CART) that BioCanRx previously funded. GO-TILT will complete a series of studies (systematic review, survey, economic analysis, database review) to optimize the development of a clinical trial to test a made-in-Canada TIL therapy in patients with melanoma. Our studies will generate evidence that will inform and refine clinical trial design and execution.
How has funding from BioCanRx allowed you to pursue this project?
BioCanRx has always recognized the importance of “team science” approaches like we are adopting in GO-TILT. This grant will allow us to bring together clinicians, researchers,clinical trialists, patient partners and other interest holders to optimize a made-in-Canada TIL therapy.
Where does your current project fit in the ecosystem of Canadian cancer immunotherapy?
TIL therapy is at the vanguard of cancer immunotherapy. However, TIL therapy is an expensive treatment that requires extensive resources. To optimize the successful and timely implementation in Canada, we will apply our Excelerator platform to maximize the chances of success in a clinical trial.
What is the most satisfying part of your work?
By far the most satisfying part of our work is helping facilitate the successful implementation of novel cancer immunotherapies in Canada. Seeing the real impact GO-CART and the CLIC-01 trial had on patients and families gives us motivation to replicate this success with tumour infiltrating lymphocyte therapy.
What difference do you hope to make for cancer immunotherapy in Canada?
As technology and medicine advance, we hope to optimize the availability of novel cancer immunotherapy treatment options by making them available to all Canadians.
