Matt Angel, PhD, on Addressing Unmet Needs in Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Solid Tumors
The chief executive officer and president of Eterna Therapeutics discussed the company’s new collaboration with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
“[T]here are just so few ways of penetrating the tumor microenvironment in solid tumors. Chemotherapy combined with resection [and] radiation, of course, is the standard of care for almost all solid tumors. And for a variety of solid tumors—glioblastoma is a great example—the latest technologies in those areas are usually ineffective.”
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remains a particularly devastating cancer, with the onset of severe symptoms often occurring just weeks after diagnosis. Meanwhile, many unmet needs remain for patients with solid tumors as well, with the difficulty of penetrating the solid tumor microenvironment representing a serious challenge for further treatment when first-line therapies are ineffective.
In a November 2022 interview with CGTLive, Matt Angel, PhD, chief executive officer and president, Eterna Therapeutics, discussed the company’s new collaboration with Michael Andreeff, MD, PhD, professor of leukemia, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, which will be focused on addressing the unmet needs described above via evaluation of the company’s preclinical gene-edited induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived therapeutic candidates for the treatment of AML and solid tumors, and potentially other indications, as well.
In addition to discussing the details of the collaboration, Angel spoke about the company’s broader portfolio. He also discussed the Eterna Therapeutics' decision to use a non-viral, mRNA-based approach to cell engineering, going over the advantages of this method in comparison to other methods.
