Tisagenlecleucel, Selinexor, and Belantamab mafodotin-blmf. Those are all names of recent medicines that the University of Pennsylvania has gotten approved. Now, a regular guy walking down the street would likely think that a spell is being cast on him, but have no fear, those are lifesaving medicines. Specifically, Tisagenlecleucel is a personalized form of gene therapy, the first one ever approved in the United States. Then, Selinexor is a drug to treat relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that impairs the immune system. Lastly, Belantamab mafodotin-blmf is a drug that can kill myeloma cells (blood cancer). If you’ve read our other blog posts, you know what gene therapy is. If not, I highly recommend you read them, but gene therapy is a way to treat or prevent/correct disease through changing the genetics that cause it.
Some more examples of their recent innovations include teclistamab-cqyv, a T cell engager also for those with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, and gilteritinib, which is a drug that is the first of its kind. Gilteritinib is for patients with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia and for patients with a mutation of FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3). That was a lot of big, medical words, so let me break it down. FLT3 is a gene, and if a certain mutation happens to it, immature white blood cells (white blood cells not fully developed) are grown uncontrollably, which develops into Acute Myeloid Leukemia. So, gilteritinib is specifically for that condition and its cause.
Most of these new medicines are specifically for cancer, especially rarer ones. These new forms of chemotherapy offer hope for families who hear the devastating cancer diagnosis each and every day. UPenn was where CAR T cell therapy was born. CAR T cell therapy is a form of immunotherapy that uses the body’s own T cells to fight cancer cells. This type of therapy can fight conditions such as lymphoma, leukemia, and multiple myeloma.
Not only has the University developed cancer treatments, but also cancer related things. Thanks to UPenn, we have pafolacianine, which is a dye that helps surgeons remove tumors. This was also on the list of their more recent innovations, it is specifically for ovarian cancer and for detecting lung cancer lesions.
It is important that you know that the University of Pennsylvania is not the only university partaking in this crucial medical research: Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, and the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine have all also made amazing advancements in medicine. This post isn’t written to simply highlight what the University of Pennsylvania has done, but in general how important research in medicine is to saving people’s lives. The University of Pennsylvania is just a great example of how passion for medicine and research can produce fantastic things like lifesaving cancer medicine.
