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Investors should keep an eye on this promising way to treat cancer...For all the talk about biotechs being nimble, it's a big pharma that looks like it'll be the first company to launch a chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) product...Novartis announced last week that the Food and Drug Administration accepted its application to market tisagenlecleucel-T...in patients with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia who are relapsed and refractory to other therapies...A few days later, Kite Pharma completed its application for axicabtagene ciloleucel...Kite's application could be accepted early, putting it less than two months behind Novartis…Since CAR-T therapies are personalized treatments that have to be made individually for each patient, they're likely to be expensive to produce and therefore require a premium price. The first company to get a CAR-T therapy approved will set the price, which later companies may have to match unless they can justify a higher price with higher efficacy...With prices that will probably exceed those of current cancer treatments, investors should expect some pushback from insurers. One way Novarits and Kite can get around the cost issue is by offering money-back guarantees...Kite's and Novartis' CAR-T therapies are just the tip of the iceberg for this new way to treat cancer...

The sea covers around 70% of the earth, and contains around 97% of the world's water. It's also home to almost 240,000 species...as a resource, it is still untapped...Bioprospecting is the discovery and development of new products based on resources from the natural world...We are not marine organisms, so until about 1970, no one even thought of the ocean. It was left as a deep secret. It seemed ridiculous to me that the ocean — with such a vast habitat — had escaped anyone's notice. But there are good reasons. People fear the ocean; it has been considered a very hostile, inhospitable place...the history of drugs from the sea isn't particularly long. Red algae have traditionally been used to make a treatment for colds, sore throats, chest infections including tuberculosis, kidney trouble, burns, cancer and indigestion...There are plenty of high-profile drugs that have gotten their origins from the sea…There are more than 25 marine-derived molecules in clinical trials, with over a thousand in pre-clinical development...There are still many societal challenges that the marine environment could help us to meet, such as antibiotic resistance...It is a source of chemical diversity, with novel targets and novel modes of action...

A snapshot of late stage development:

• PharmaMar...Plitidepsin and lurbinectedin, both derived from sea squirts... T-cell lymphoma...
• BeyondSpring...linabulin...is based on a marine fungus…non-small cell lung cancer...
• Ohr Pharmaceutical...Squalamine...found in dogfish shark tissues...a wide variety of indications…antimicrobial against bacteria, fungi, protozoa and viruses, as well as in cancer, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and fibrodysplasia ossificans progressive...
• Wex Pharmaceuticals...puffer fish...neurotoxin tetrodotoxin...a non-addictive and rapid-acting pain killer without opioid-like side effects....

Laura Joszt, assistant managing editor at The American Journal of Managed Care. Welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network

Nicole Crisano, PTNN. This weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

Laura Joszt, assistant managing editor at The American Journal of Managed Care. Welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network

Brielle Urciuoli, PTNN. This weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

Nicole Crisano, PTNN. This weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

Nicole Crisano, PTNN. This weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

...Johnson & Johnson has halted all global advertising on the video-sharing site YouTube in response to concerns product marketing appeared next to offensive content such as hate speech…J&J joins a growing list of large corporations, including major advertiser AT&T, that have opted to pull advertising from running on the Google-owned media channel...Alarm began to spread following an investigation by the British newspaper The Times which found advertising from well-known brands appeared next to content from extremist groups. ISBA, a U.K. advertising association with over 400 corporate members, urged Google shortly thereafter to review its policies and withdraw any ad inventory it could not guarantee wouldn't appear next to offending material

Laura Joszt, assistant managing editor at The American Journal of Managed Care. Welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network