The Cancer Cell Therapy Showdown: CAR-Ts Versus CAR-NKs

08 Mar 2023

• By Ayisha Sharma

Will CAR-NK cell therapies overshadow traditional CAR-T options for the treatment of some cancers? While preliminary data for CAR-NKs point to enhanced safety and solid tumor penetration, oncologists and executives discuss the pros and cons of these two approaches to cell therapy.

3D illustration of T cells attacking a cancer cell (CAR-T cell therapy) - Illustration — CAR T-Cell Therapy

In 2017, the US Food and Drug Administration approved Novartis AG’s Kymriah for the treatment of patients with acute lymphocytic leukaemia (ALL). The decision marked a sea change – Kymriah became the first of several chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies to enter the cancer market.

CAR-T cell treatment involves taking T-cells from patients’ blood, enhancing them in the lab by adding a gene for a...