Laurie Adami has had a long and intricate journey with blood cancer, after being diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in 2006. Over the next 12 years, she would undergo six different cancer therapies, with none of them leading to a complete remission.

In 2018, when her cancer had substantially progressed throughout her body and having exhausted all other options, Laurie was given new hope when she participated in a clinical trial at UCLA for the immunotherapy, CAR-T. The revolutionary treatment dramatically eradicated Laurie’s cancer.  A month after receiving the CAR-T therapy, Laurie was in complete remission, and remains cancer free to this day.

Oncologist images of Laurie’s PETscan one week prior to CAR-T and one month later.

Find out more about her amazing story and journey here.

Speaking with Reach Markets Laurie explained that she has now challenged herself to raise $250,000 to accelerate cancer research through The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. To raise awareness, and hope, she is also challenging herself to a trek to Mount Everest Base Camp in the fall of 2021. 

The motivating factor behind Laurie’s determination is a deep and personal understanding that CAR-T is miraculous as it is, and likens it to a Model-T Ford. It is absolutely a complete game changer that has the potential to reshape the entire industry, and it is also as “bad” as it will ever be.

Laurie’s hope behind her awareness generating activities is that it will ignite governments, universities, cancer centres and private companies into cutting-edge medical research and development, that will take CAR-T from the limitations of the Model-T Ford and turn it into something more like a self-driving Tesla. 

The ”next-generation” CAR-T, currently under development by Prescient Therapeutics (ASX:PTX) called OmniCAR, seeks to overcome the limitations of current generation CAR-T; including safety and control flexibility in the cancers it can target.  This next-generation universal CAR-T platform is currently in the pre-clinical development stage and is based on technology invented at UPenn, which is recognised globally as the “father” of CAR-T, having pioneered the therapy.  Novartis licensed a CAR-T technology from UPenn in 2012 that became the first CAR-T therapy approved and has opened a multibillion-dollar industry.

Laurie, having gained the ultimate benefit from (UPenn and Novartis’ innovation and brilliance in developing) the groundbreaking CAR-T is now it’s strongest advocate wanting to maximize the awareness and usage of CAR-T so other many more cancer patients with different forms of the disease can gain the benefits she did. Here’s wishing Laurie the best of luck with her Everest expedition and fundraising goals. 

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Prescient Therapeutics event hosted by Reach Markets. Reach Markets have been engaged by PTX to help manage their investor communications.

Sources:

• CAR T SUPERGIRL AND HER SUPERHERO SUPPORTERS
• conquer-magazine: Laurie Adami