The Fourth Era of Cancer Treatment: Where Immunotherapy Meets Precision Medicine

“All malignant diseases are derived from a normal cell in the body,” says Dr. Owen O’Connor, MD, PhD. But how different are the malignant cells from the normal ones, and how hard is it to differentiate one from the other?

This question is at the heart of the 'therapeutic window' problem in cancer treatment. But with new research in full swing, a solution may be within reach.

Press play to learn:

• The four eras of cancer treatment, and where the future of cancer therapy is headed
• The problem of the therapeutic window and modern-day chemotherapies, and how a combination of immunotherapy and precision medicine could overcome it
• The function of B cells in the body; how they behave differently in malignant disease vs. autoimmune disease

Dr. O’Connor is an international authority on lymphoma and drug development with over 25 years of experience in academic medicine. He is also Chief Scientific Officer at TG Therapeutics, a biotechnology company that focuses on targeting diseases related to underlying B cell dysfunction, like non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and some autoimmune diseases.

B cells are a type of white blood cell that produce antibodies designed to rid the body of pathogens. In lymphoma and some autoimmune diseases, however, these normal B cells begin wildly misbehaving or proliferating rapidly. In the case of malignant disease, the goal is to inhibit the proliferation of and kill these B cells; in the case of autoimmune disease, the goal is to suppress their activity and interactions with other cells in the body.

How is this accomplished? And what’s wrong with most modern chemotherapies?

Answering these questions leads Dr. O’Connor to discuss the meaning of the therapeutic window and two drugs that have been acquired and studied extensively by the team at TG Therapeutics. One of these drugs is an immunotherapy, and the other is a precision targeted therapy. The idea is that working together, these drugs could provide an effective treatment without the serious downsides of chemotherapies. 

Visit https://www.tgtherapeutics.com/ to learn more. 

Episode also available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/30PvU9C