Malaghan Institute to come up with cure for leukemia

CAR-T cell therapy- a branch of immunotherapy which makes Malaghan a significant contributor to medical science.

Malaghan Institute of Medical Research in Wellington will soon test a brand new blood cancer treatment which will genetically modify living human cells. Desperately sick leukemia patients will receive cells which are custom built in laboratories and will be put back in the patient.

Professor Graham Le Gros, Malaghan's Director said, this is known as CAR-T cell therapy- a branch of immunotherapy which makes Malaghan a significant contributor to medical science.

Developed in China and approved by FDA in the United States, trails of CAR-T therapy have seen remission rates of more than 80 percent for some blood cancer patients. The end goal is to administer those cells via what is basically a vaccine, and it is tailor-made for each patient.

"We are dealing with living cell medicines here. We are pioneering a totally new way of therapy," said Le Gros.

Immunotherapy also brings hope for allergies, asthma and even hard to treat auto-immune conditions such as eczema, inflammatory bowel disease, multi sclerosis and type 1 diabetes.

"We're looking at the mechanisms that parasitic worms use to subdue the immune system because of their potential to dampen harmful inflammatory immune responses, such as those made in asthma and allergy," added Le Gros.

"Before, it's always been the promise of research. It's not just one therapy, there's a whole suite of these coming through and we think we are going to be able to deliver on the promise that we have had all these years," said Mike Zablocki, General Manager of Malaghan Institute of Medical Research.