New Stem Cell Research Could Make Cancer Treatments affordable and Effective for Hospitals and Patients

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - INTELLiSTEM Technologies, a pioneering research company revolutionizing stem cell medicine, is helping to create an affordable future for cancer therapies. Current cancer cell therapies like CAR T Cells cost between $350k (USD) and $500k (USD.) INTELLiSTEM expects its Super Sentinel Cells™ (SSCs) treatment to be priced between $30-$50k USD. This represents a massive difference in price for hospitals and patients paying or co-paying for their own treatments.

"Older generations of cell therapies require harvesting the cells from the patients, processing them, manufacturing them and then injecting them back into the patient," said Dr. Riam Shammaa, MD Founder and CEO of INTELLiSTEM. "Most of those cells can't be grown in large quantities and are very difficult to manufacture, driving the cost way up. Our solution is based on genetically engineering 'off-the-shelf cells 'ready to inject directly into patients. Our cells are easy to grow into billions of cells to treat multiple patients and this drops the cost substantially."

According to Shammaa, the high current cost of cell therapies like CAR T Cells and dendritic cells is not only unsustainable (causing a heavy financial burden for hospitals across North America) but is also making life-saving cancer therapies financially inaccessible to millions of patients.

INTELLiSTEM Researchers have created genetically engineered Super Sentinel Cells™ (SSC's) to effectively target Cancer cells. The SSC's are showing an unprecedented 80% success rate in animal models. The current success rate for existing Cancer cell therapy treatments is 20-40%. 

INTELLiSTEM is currently moving into phase one of human trials with the SSC's within the next 12 months.

"We could see practical cures for specific Cancers in as little as 5-7 years," added Shammaa.

See animated video of SSC's here – high-resolution Images also available.

How does the treatment work?

Cancer cells are very good at hiding from the immune system. Essentially, the Super Sentinel Cells™ are the next generation of antigen-presenting cells, they show the immune system where the Cancer cells are hiding in a host and allow the immune system to kick in and attack/kill them.

1. The genetically engineered stem cells (SSC's) are introduced to the subject's Cancer cells outside of the body where they are programmed to find that specific Cancer.
2. The programmed stem cells (SSC's) are then separated from the Cancer cells.
3. The SSC's are then injected into the subject and they show the subject's immune system where to find the Cancer cells.
4. The Cancer cells are attacked and destroyed.

What Cancers could this effectively treat?

Super Sentinel Cells™ have the capacity to target hematological and solid cancers due to their ability to learn the signals and antigens of each cancer. Due to the massive task at hand and to accelerate the progression of multiple Cancer cures, INTELLiSTEM started collaborating with cancer centers across the United States and is also looking to collaborate with research institutions around the world to accelerate the accessibility of the therapy to patients. The SSC's are expected to be effective on solid tumors such as Breast Cancer, Lung Cancer, Melanoma, Prostate Cancer and Lymphomas.

How many treatments are required?

Animal models are showing that 80% of the tested animals survive after one treatment compared to 20% using available cell therapies and 0% without treatment, but Shammaa believes that 100% can be achieved with a second injection/treatment of Super Sentinel Cells™.

SOURCE INTELLiSTEM Technologies

Related Links

https://www.intellistemtech.com/