Next-gen TILs and TCRs face a durability challenge

Against a backdrop of disappointing clinical durability data for TCR-based cancer therapies, presentations at SITC on earlier-stage programs highlight strategies for optimizing potency by tinkering with TCR, cytokine and costimulatory signaling. The field still has to grapple with which hallmarks of improved responses in animal models will translate into longer lasting clinical benefits.

Shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) and  Immatics N.V. (NASDAQ:IMTX) took a hit after abstracts released Nov. 9 ahead of the Society of Cancer Immunotherapy (SITC) meeting showed high proportions of responders to both companies’ autologous T cell candidates had quick relapses...