CLEVELAND- A research team from the Wesley Center for Immunotherapy at UH Seidman Cancer Center was awarded the top scoring abstract award at the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy Annual Meeting.
David Wald, MD, PhD, from UH Seidman Cancer Center, and his colleagues, were selected for their abstract: “Development and Clinical Validation of a Less Than One Day CAR T-cell Therapy Manufacturing Process.”
While CAR-T cell therapy has demonstrated enormous potential to improve the outcomes of patients with B cell malignancies and multiple myeloma, the therapy has poor accessibility due to enormous costs and slow, complex manufacturing that typically takes 1-2 weeks. The development of an ultra-fast and highly scalable manufacturing platform has the potential to transform the field and enable much wider utilization of this therapy. To date, 15 lymphoma patients have been treated with CAR-T product generated from this platform in a clinical trial based at UH that is led by Dr. Changchun Deng with the vast majority achieving complete remissions. Importantly current results also support that the manufacturing approach can generate CAR-T products that exhibit a significantly more favorable toxicity profile as compared to traditional CAR-T products.
The abstract “Efficient Cost-Effective Manufacture of a Non-Viral Transposon Based Novel BAFF CAR T for treatment of B-cell Cancers” was also accepted at the conference happening in May.
The second abstract at the International Society for Cellular Therapy highlights a method for efficient cost-effective manufacture of a non-viral based novel BAFF-CART for treatment of Hodgkin lymphoma and multiple myeloma. BAFF CAR is an alternate therapy to treat patients who are refractory to standard CART cells and is utilized in early phase trials conducted at UH Seidman Cancer Center.
The cellular therapies were manufactured in the onsite cellular therapy facility, located at the Wesley Center for Immunotherapy at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center. Through this and the shared cellular therapy facility with Case Western Reserve University, the nation’s only National Center for Regenerative Medicine, UH has manufactured more than 700 cellular therapy products for patients on clinical trials at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center and throughout the nation over the last two decades.
In addition, David Wald, MD, PhD, was named to the 2025 class of Senior Members for the National Academy of Inventors.
About University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center/Cleveland, Ohio
UH Seidman Cancer Center is the only freestanding cancer hospital in Northeast Ohio, where all clinicians and staff are dedicated to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer while researching new and innovative treatment options through clinical trials. Nationally ranked cancer care is also available to patients through the 12-county region at 19 community-based locations. Our UH Seidman specialists make up 14 cancer-specific teams focused on determining integrated care plans tailored to patient’s needs. UH Seidman Cancer Center is part of the National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University, one of 57 comprehensive cancer centers in the country. Patients have access to advanced treatment options, ranging from a pioneering stem cell transplant program founded more than 45 years ago and a wide range of immunotherapy to the first and only proton therapy center in northern Ohio for adults and children. Go to UHhospitals.org/Cancer for more information.
About University Hospitals / Cleveland, Ohio
Founded in 1866, University Hospitals serves the needs of patients through an integrated network of 21 hospitals (including five joint ventures), more than 50 health centers and outpatient facilities, and over 200 physician offices in 16 counties throughout northern Ohio. The system’s flagship quaternary care, academic medical center, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, is affiliated with Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Northeast Ohio Medical University, Oxford University, the Technion Israel Institute of Technology and . National Taiwan University College of Medicine. The main campus also includes the UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, ranked among the top children’s hospitals in the nation; UH MacDonald Women's Hospital, Ohio's only hospital for women; and UH Seidman Cancer Center, part of the NCI-designated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. UH is home to some of the most prestigious clinical and research programs in the nation, with more than 3,000 active clinical trials and research studies underway. UH Cleveland Medical Center is perennially among the highest performers in national ranking surveys, including “America’s Best Hospitals” from U.S. News & World Report. UH is also home to 19 Clinical Care Delivery and Research Institutes. UH is one of the largest employers in Northeast Ohio with more than 30,000 employees. Follow UH on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. For more information, visit UHhospitals.org.