Immuno-Oncology 360° 8th Annual Event Highlights.

Abstract

The 8th Annual Immuno-Oncology 360° (IO360°) event was held March 16–18, 2022, in New York City. IO360° 2022 attracted a gathering of more than 450 attendees, representing industry, academia, and investment; 125+ speakers; 80+ IO topics; and 9+ hours of networking.Day one began with opening remarks from chairs Axel Hoos, MD, PhD, CEO of Scorpion Therapeutics, and James Gulley, MD, PhD, Chief, Genitourinary Malignancies Branch, Director, Medical Oncology Service, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health.The opening keynote was from Nobel Laureate Gregg Semenza, MD, PhD, Director, Vascular Program, Institute for Cell Engineering, and Professor of Genetic Medicine, at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Figure 1). Dr Semenza discussed his research into hypoxia-inducible factors (HIF) and the impact of HIF inhibition on immunotherapy cancer treatment.Daniel Chen, MD, PhD, Founder, Engenuity Life Sciences, gave the Zeitgeist Talk. Dr Chen provided a broad understanding of the IO landscape a decade after checkpoint inhibitors: what is known, what needs to be known, and how to get there faster.Plenary talks covered discovery phase, translational, and biomarker research. There were two tracks focused on clinical operations and advancements in imaging. Five companies participated in the IO360° biotech showcase.At the annual IO360° debate, Kristen Hege, MD, Senior Vice President, Early Clinical Development, Hematology/Oncology and Cell Therapy, Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), and Bob Valamehr, PhD, Chief Research and Development Officer, Fate Therapeutics, debated whether natural killer cells or T cells were the future for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapy. After day one, several attendees took a guided historical walk of New York City's first landmark district, Brooklyn Heights.Day two began with a welcome from Dr Gulley and a keynote from Rachel Haurwitz, PhD, CEO of Caribou Biosciences (Figure 2). Dr Haurwitz presented on her company's use of CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) to create allogeneic CAR T cell therapies.Andrew Baum, MD, Managing Director, Equity Research, Citi, gave his annual “Top 10 Recommendations” talk and what is next on the IO radar (Figure 3). The track sessions were divided among business development, novel technologies, translational updates, and the annual Cell and Gene Therapy Day. The Cell and Gene Therapy Day keynote, Christine Brown, PhD, Deputy Director, T Cell Therapeutics Research Laboratory, Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope (Figure 4), described the approach her laboratory was taking in CAR-T treatment of glioblastoma. It ended with the 7th Annual Networking Reception.Day three was opened by Dr Chen before a VIP fireside chat with patient advocate Karen Peterson (Figure 5) and moderator Cindy Geoghegan. Ms Peterson is a cancer survivor and clinical trial participant and shared her incredible journey to find a clinical trial after a breast cancer diagnosis.Suzanne Topalian, MD, Associate Director/Professor of Surgery, Bloomberg∼Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy/Johns Hopkins University (Figure 6), gave a keynote talk. Dr Topalian presented research and case studies on the neoadjuvant use of checkpoint blockades, such as nivolumab and ipilimumab, across several tumor types. That was followed by plenary sessions on neoadjuvant/adjuvant updates, bispecifics, and clinical development.This year's strategic advisors were Axel Hoos, MD, PhD, Scorpion Therapeutics (founding advisor); James Gulley, MD, PhD, National Cancer Institute (founding advisor); Priti Hegde, PhD, Foundation Medicine; Daniel Chen, MD, PhD, Engenuity Life Sciences; Andrew Baum, MD, Citi; Lisa Butterfield, PhD, Parker Institute; Roy Baynes, MD, Merck; Raluca Verona, PhD, Janssen R&D; Theresa LaValle, PhD, Coherus Biosciences; Alexandra Snyder, MD, Two River; Aiman Shalabi, PharmD, GSK; Kristen Hege, MD, BMS; Ramy Ibrahim, MD, bit.bio; and Michael Kalos, PhD, Next Pillar Consulting.This year's chairs were Charles Glaus, PhD, Bayer US-Pharmaceuticals; Andy Lee, Merck; Theresa LaVallee, PhD, Coherus BioSciences; Brad Loncar, Loncar Investments; Aiman Shalabi, PharmD, GSK; Kristen Hege, MD, BMS; David Fabrizio, Foundation Medicine; Raluca Verona, PhD, Janssen R&D; Ramy Ibrahim, MD, bit.bio; Michael Kalos, PhD, Next Pillar Consulting; Sanjeev Mariathasan, PhD, Genentech; and Bei Wang, MD, PhD, Regeneron.The 2022 IO360° speaking faculty presented on the following topics:Immuno-Oncology 360° addresses the rapid advancements of clinical, scientific, and business developments of IO in one setting to help develop therapeutics for a wider range of cancers at an accelerated rate. Next year's dates are February 7–10, 2023, in New York City. For more information, visit www.io360summit.com.