Innovation awards finalist: Genicity greatly expands potential therapeutic options for treating cancer

Immunotherapy is a relatively new cancer treatment and while it is transformative, it is not without its challenges

Immunotherapies have been a major focus of cancer research in recent years

Thu Nov 9 2023 - 00:15

Immunotherapy is a relatively new cancer treatment and while it is game changing, it is not without its challenges, including price, availability and scalability.

Allogenic or universal cell therapy is one very promising type of immunotherapy that uses readily available cells from healthy donors to overcome these challenges. Now doctors Muneer Sawaied and Muhammad Yassin, founders of allogenic cell therapy platform, Genecity, have brought things a stage further by developing a novel “blind” or agnostic allogenic T cell to which different types of antibodies can be added. This will greatly expand potential therapeutic options and their solution can target both solid and blood cancers – a first – depending on type.

Muhammad Yassin and Muneer Sawaied of Genicity at The Irish Times Innovation Awards 2023 final judging day. Photograph: Conor McCabe Photography. — Muhammad Yassin and Muneer Sawaied of Genicity at The Irish Times Innovation Awards 2023 final judging day. Photograph: Conor McCabe

“Effectively we have created an off-the-shelf therapy which is safe, scalable and affordable so it doesn’t matter how many treatment cycles are involved. The treatment can be prescribed for a patient straight away with no delay. For a certain cohort of patients with immune system limitations, this is their only hope for survival and cure,” says Sawaied.

“At the moment the immunotherapy treatments available are mainly for liquid tumours,” he adds. “Their efficacy is unpredictable. There may be serious side effects and they are very expensive. Our treatment is effective at a fraction of the cost, and if side effects persist, the cells can be eliminated with the use of our suicidal gene.”