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A Master Of Firsts: Pascal Touchon On Atara Bio And The Maturing Cell Therapy Ecosystem

 
• By David Wild

Having led the way to regulatory approval for Kymriah and now Ebvallo, Atara CEO Pascal Touchon reflects on the evolution of cell therapy and what his company is doing differently.

Atara's Platform Has The Epstein-Barr Virus At Its Core • Source: Shutterstock
Key Takeaways:

  • Ebvallo's approval as the first "off-the-shelf" allogeneic cell therapy is a significant advancement in the field, potentially reducing manufacturing costs and improving patient access.

Pascal Touchon is no stranger to firsts. As the former SVP and global head of cell and gene at Novartis AG, he was pivotal in gaining EU and US approval for Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel), the first-ever approved CAR T-cell therapy. In his current role as CEO of Southern California-based Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc., Touchon again helped make history, this time with the EU approval of the first “off-the-shelf” allogeneic cell therapy, Ebvallo (tabelecleucel), which is indicated for the treatment of relapsed or refractory Epstein-Barr virus-positive post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD) in patients who have received at least one prior therapy.

As Kymriah brought autologous cell therapy into the clinic, Ebvallo’s December 2022 approval represents another step forward. By using single...

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In Partnership with Cerba Research

Prioritizing Safety in CAR-T Therapy: Patient Monitoring with Cerba Research’s Testing Portfolio

The cell and gene therapy (CGT) clinical trial landscape in general and CAR-T cell clinical trials in particular are a special focus for the FDA, EMA, and other regulatory agencies. The whole industry is thus aware of the recent FDA safety investigation and requirements for labeling CAR therapy products.

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