Driving CAR-based cellular therapies

Adoptive T cell therapies were first developed in the mid-1980s but only recently entered the limelight owing to dramatic clinical results achieved with the latest incarnation, chimeric antigen receptor-based cell therapies. Novartis AG's 2012 chimeric antigen receptor deal with the University of Pennsylvania signaled the start of a land grab.

There are now at least 12 chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) in the clinic from multiple academic-industry collaborations, and companies are letting the researchers do the driving...