Latest news with #PeterMacCallum
ABC News
9 hours ago
- Health
- ABC News
WA family shocked as healthy 13-year-old diagnosed with cancer of the thymus
Almost six weeks ago Kobi Jones's life was turned upside down when he was diagnosed with an extremely rare type of cancer almost unheard of in people his age. It was an ordinary day at football training when the 13-year-old from Collie, Western Australia, felt early signs of the thymoma — a tumour that develops on the thymus gland. Kobi's mother Charli Rowden said that was the start of a life-changing and terrifying journey. "The coach was concerned because the chest pain came on so randomly — he didn't get any hits or anything like that," she said. Initial check-ups failed to find anything unusual but a couple of days later doctors contacted the family about a mass visible on Kobi's X-ray. He was taken to the hospital in Bunbury for additional tests. "I just kept telling Kobi, 'Oh it will be nothing, mate — we have to check what it is and make sure everything is OK," Ms Rowden said. "And then to be told, while I was standing up, that it could be a cancerous tumour on his thymus — it was horrible. "[It's] very scary … he was such a fit, healthy kid. "The scariest part is that they don't really know [much about it] or where it could go … they have actually gone and contacted doctors in other countries that may have seen this, all over the world." Thymomas impact less than 1 per cent of cancer patients each year and are typically detected in people between the ages of 40 and 60. Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre oncologist Tom John said it was a "very, very uncommon" condition that affected the organ responsible for training the immune system. "Most medical oncologists wouldn't see a thymoma in their lifetime … and it's very uncommon in young people," he said. "[It] sits very close to the heart and some of the big vessels in your chest, and that can certainly cause some symptoms like pain and shortness of breath that [it's important] you don't ignore." Dr John said he had seen a lot of "success stories" over the years when it came to treating the condition. "If you do find a cancer like this early, it's usually curable," he said. "We've had many patients who are cured just with surgery or in some cases we've given chemotherapy up front followed by surgery, and in some cases we have given radiation combined with chemotherapy and they have been cured. "If they're detected early and can be cut out, they're curable — we've certainly had quite a few success stories with thymoma. Kobi is recovering in hospital after a long but successful surgery this week to remove the mass. He has several months of recovery ahead but stepfather Tayler Leadbitter said he was feeling positive and keen to get back home. "It's been bloody horrible," Mr Leadbitter said. "We do a lot of hunting, fishing, four-wheel driving – anything to do with the bush and outdoors – to now the complete opposite, stuck in Perth. "There's not a lot of people to talk to — it's quite isolated and quite hard." Mr Leadbitter said he was already planning a family trip for when Kobi was healthy again.
ABC News
19-05-2025
- Health
- ABC News
Biden reviewing treatment options after cancer diagnosis
Andy Park: Former US President Joe Biden and his family are reviewing treatment options after the 82-year-old was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Mr Biden is undergoing treatment for an aggressive form of the disease, which has now spread to his bones. While the former president has received messages of support, including from his political opponents, analysts say the diagnosis underscores questions about his health in recent years. Here's Gavin Coote. Gavin Coote: Joe Biden's cancer diagnosis came from a doctor visit last week after the former president reported urinary symptoms. They found a small nodule on his prostate and the cancer has already spread to his bones. Prof Michael Hofman: The office has told us that he has what's called a grade group 5 prostate cancer. That scoring system sort of goes from 1 to 5. So this is a very serious diagnosis. Gavin Coote: Professor Michael Hoffman is a nuclear medicine physician at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne. He says while it's a more aggressive type of prostate cancer, there are still treatment options. Prof Michael Hofman: There's been a lot of progress in the last 15 to 20 years. We now have probably four or five lines of treatment for this particular type of prostate cancer. So that's good, but by the same token, it's not curable and it is a very serious diagnosis and in some people it can cause problems very quickly. This is particularly close to heart for all of us here at Peter Mac because back in 2016, Mr Biden, when he was vice president, actually visited Peter Mac in Melbourne to launch the US Cancer Moonshot initiative. So it's really close to heart. So we wish him and his family all the very best. Gavin Coote: The former president's office says he and his family are now reviewing treatment options. President Biden left office in January as the oldest serving US president in history and since then has kept a relatively low profile. The cancer diagnosis comes nearly a year after he was forced to abandon his bid for a second presidential term over growing concerns about his health and age. But the former president has continued to face questions about his health in recent months. David Mark is the managing editor of the Washington Examiner magazine. David Mark: This gets to the real context about these very sad developments is there's this book that's coming out on Tuesday by a couple of Washington, D.C. journalists covering the saga of him being forced out of the race. This is the first time we've heard of any kind of specific health diagnosis about Joe Biden. Gavin Coote: The soon to be released book, co-written by CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios journalist Alex Thompson, alleges a White House cover up of the former president's declining physical and cognitive health. David Greenberg is a professor of history at Rutgers University in New Jersey. David Greenberg: Above all one feels compassion for Joe Biden. Since Trump's election, if not since Biden dropped out of the race last summer, he's lost a lot of admirers, people who felt he hadn't been straight with the country about his own cognitive abilities and people have blamed him for allowing Trump to return to office. Gavin Coote: Joe Biden and his family have faced their share of health challenges. In 1988, he suffered two life-threatening brain aneurysms and his son, Beau, died of brain cancer in 2015. David Greenberg thinks the former president's diagnosis will provoke both sympathy and more questions about his health. David Greenberg: So far as I know there's no direct link or indirect link between the cancer and the issue of cognitive decline. But I think the collective picture it paints is, you know, of a man in his sunset years. And that's one that may continue to provoke some anger from people, but may also provoke a bit of sympathy as well. Gavin Coote: U.S. President Donald Trump, who has been a fierce critic of Joe Biden, is among those who have put out statements of support following his cancer diagnosis, saying he and Melania are saddened by the news and extend their wishes to his family. President Biden's former vice president, Kamala Harris, posted on social media describing him as a fighter, while Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he is saddened to hear news of the diagnosis. Andy Park: Gavin Coote there.
News.com.au
13-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Peter Mac's Cell Therapies powers ASX cancer plays
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre is Australia's only public hospital dedicated to cancer care, research and education It is home to Australia's only biomedical facility capable of manufacturing CAR T-cells and other cell therapies at commercial scale – operated by Cell Therapies Several ASX companies have partnered with Cell Therapies as they work to develop their promising cancer therapeutics Melbourne's Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre – aka Peter Mac – is Australia's only public hospital dedicated to cancer care, research and education. Peter Mac has Australia's most extensive cancer research site in Australia, with more than 700 laboratory and clinical researchers, nurses, and support staff. Since its humble beginnings in 1949, the centre has been at the forefront of innovation in cancer diagnostics and treatment. It is a global leader in nuclear medicine and an early adopter of positron emission tomography (PET) imaging for cancer diagnosis. This year, the centre plans to evaluate GE HealthCare's next-generation total-body PET/CT scanner, designed to improve cancer detection, staging, and treatment planning. In partnership with the University of Melbourne, Peter Mac recently established the Collaborative Centre for Genomic Cancer Medicine. The Wilson Centre for Blood Cancer Genomics and Victorian Centre for Functional Genomics are also located at Peter Mac. The cancer centre actively partners in clinical trials with pharmaceutical companies of all sizes – from global giants to smaller players – giving patients access to cutting-edge treatments. And crucially Australia's largest TGA licensed cell and gene therapy contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO), Cell Therapies Pty Ltd, is co-located within Peter Mac. Cell Therapies' sovereign advanced manufacturing facility and highly-skilled workforce support clinical trial and commercial supply of innovative cell-based therapies such as Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies, for the treatment of cancer and other diseases. It was the commercial manufacturing partner for Novartis' Kymriah – the first CAR T-cell therapy approved by the US FDA back in 2017. "Our state-of-the-art clean rooms and production and testing facilities in Melbourne rank among the best in the world and paired with a highly specialised workforce, play a crucial role in enabling our Australian partners to advance the development of cutting-edge cell and gene therapies," Cell Therapies CEO Dr Bev Menner told Stockhead. Cell Therapies is integral to the success of several Australian companies focusing on CAR T-cell therapies and other cell-based therapies, which are showing promise in the treatment of cancers and other life-threatening conditions. AdAlta advances Cell Therapies with help from pioneer AdAlta (ASX:1AD) and venture capital firm SYNthesis BioVentures Fund (SYNBV) launched AdCella in 2024, with an East to West strategy to bring cellular immunotherapies from Asia, particularly China, into Western markets. AdAlta managing director Dr Tim Oldham was also CEO of Cell Therapies from 2013 to 2017 and said Peter Mac's capabilities were critical to the success of AdCella's East to West strategy. "Peter Mac's long history and capability in the delivery of CAR T-cell therapy is pivotal to our ability to attract innovation from Asia and further develop those technologies in Australia," Oldham told Stockhead. "Without those capabilities Peter Mac has developed we wouldn't be able to execute our East to West cell therapy strategy." Oldham said many globally leading cancer hospitals realised that to be at the forefront of new technologies such as CAR T-cell therapies they needed to be able to manufacture them onsite. "In Peter Mac's case they make their world-class cell therapies manufacturing capabilities available to not just their own researchers but other companies on a contract basis," he said. Cell Therapies manufactures Arovella's lead asset for clinical trial Arovella Therapeutics (ASX:ALA) also uses Cell Therapies as its CDMO to manufacture its lead therapeutic candidate ALA-101 as it prepares for a phase I clinical trial program. Arovella's proprietary allogeneic (one to many) platform uses healthy donor-derived invariant Natural Killer T (iNKT) cells, engineered with chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) to target specific cancer antigens. ALA-101 combines iNKT cells with a CAR that targets CD19, a protein commonly found on B-cell blood cancers like lymphoma and leukaemia. Arovella has licensed the manufacturing process, which is patent protected, from Imperial College London. "Arovella's worked with Cell Therapies for quite some time and over that journey we've developed an excellent working relationship and are highly impressed with the breadth and manufacturing work they can undertake," CEO Dr Michael Baker told Stockhead. Arovella is currently completing manufacturing of clinical batches of ALA-101 with Cell Therapies in preparation for first-in-human studies and aims to file an investigational new drug (IND) application with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This will enable the company to start is phase I trial for ALA-101 in CD19-positive blood cancer patients in CY25. Arovella also plans to present proof-of-concept data for its CLDN18.2-CAR-iNKT cell gastric cancer program in coming months. "Arovella is excited to take ALA-101 into clinical trials and the partnership between Arovella and Cell Therapies has been critical to make that happen," Baker said. "As we embark on our strategy to expand our pipeline with new programs targeting solid tumours, we look forward to strengthening our partnership with Cell Therapies." Chimeric looks to manufacture and bring trials to Peter Mac Clinical stage cell therapy company Chimeric Therapeutics (ASX:CHM) is also partnering with Cell Therapies to explore the potential to manufacture its CAR-T assets in Australia. Chimeric CEO Dr Rebecca McQualter told Stockhead that while the company is listed on the ASX, its operations have been US-based. "That is great for active trials running in the US but because we're an ASX company and focused on local shareholders we're focused on bringing our technology home," she said. Chimeric has three CAR T & NK cell assets all in clinical trials, two of which it would like to bring to Australia, funding permitted. It has an ongoing phase 1/2 clinical trial for its novel CHM CDH17 CAR T-cell therapy targeting advanced colorectal cancer. "Unfortunately, the rate at which people are being diagnosed with bowel cancer from 20 to 30 years old is significantly increasing so we'd like to bring a site to Australia so we're working to be able to do that with Cell Therapies," McQualter said. Their second program CLTX CAR T is in a phase 1B clinical trial in recurrent/progressive glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer. "Peter Mac has an amazing brain tumour CAR T program so because we have a site running in Austin, Texas they also want to open a site and that means manufacturing with Cell Therapies," McQualter said. "We can do everything end-to-end at Peter Mac and don't have to go anywhere else but we're still in the phase of funding our amazing ideas."
