Two revolutionary drugs in the treatment of blood cancer will obtain their temporary authorization for use (ATU) in France. In addition, the Novartis group has announced that it will produce its treatment in France from 2019.
This could be a game-changer for blood cancer patients. the Kymriah by Novartis and the Yescarta by Gilead, two revolutionary drugs in the treatment of lymphoma (the most common blood cancer) already marketed in the United States, are about to obtain their temporary authorization for use (ATU) in France. Thus, French patients can be treated without waiting for a European marketing authorization.
Tuesday July 10, while Prime Minister Édouard Philippe met for the first time of the quinquennium the Strategic Council of Health Industries (CSIS), Novartis has announced that it has chosen France to set up its future European platform for the production of this treatment. In partnership with the French laboratory Cell4Cure, the Swiss pharmaceutical group will set up its center in Les Ulis, in Essonne, from 2019.
Kymriah and Yescarta belong to the CAR-T family, drugs obtained by genetically modifying the patient’s cells using the revolutionary CAR-T cell technology for “T cells carrying a chimeric receptor”. They have the particularity of being completely individualized since they reprogram the patient’s white blood cells in order to destroy his cancer cells. The process is so complex that it takes several weeks to develop a treatment and some patients die sooner. This is why the presence of Novartis in Les Ulis is such a success for France.
More than 18,000 cases of lymphoma diagnosed each year in France
Concretely, patients treated with Kymriah (effective in 85% of cases according to Novartis) will have blood molecules taken which will be sent to Ulis where specialists will reprogram them so that they are able to recognize and destroy cancer cells. Once modified, they will be reinjected into patients.
It remains to negotiate the prices. In the United States, “depending on the medical usefulness of the drug on the one hand and the commercial viability on the other,” Novartis fixed the total treatment at $ 475,000.
In France, more than 18,000 cases of lymphoma are diagnosed each year. It is the most common cancer in adolescents and young adults and is responsible for 4,000 deaths per year in France. The disease mainly occurs within the lymphatic tissue of the lymph nodes and spreads lymphatically. It includes two main categories. If Hodgkin lymphoma, or “Hodgkin’s disease “,” are the best known, accounting for less than 15% of cases. Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which accounts for 85% of cases, has increased by almost 5% per year in recent years, due to certain chemicals and environmental factors, depending on the France Lymphoma Hope association.
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