Name:
An interview with Patrick Hanley
Description:
An interview with Patrick Hanley
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Duration:
T00H07M16S
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Content URL:
https://cadmoreoriginalmedia.blob.core.windows.net/8d359f82-c369-44de-98c8-bb2a451404a8/Patrick Hanley - Interview - V1.mp4?sv=2019-02-02&sr=c&sig=kV4t9IE%2Fz877aJFGL16TvWeFkOrZMCs%2B%2BC0azcHI4LA%3D&st=2024-05-05T15%3A54%3A10Z&se=2024-05-05T17%3A59%3A10Z&sp=r
Upload Date:
2022-06-29T00:00:00.0000000
Transcript:
Language: EN.
Segment:0 .
[MUSIC PLAYING]
SARAH REHMAN: Please, could you introduce yourself and a little bit about what you do?
PATRICK HANLEY: Sure. So I'm Patrick Hanley. I'm chief and director of the Cell Therapy Program at Children's National in Washington, DC. And for ISCT, I'm the vice president-elect of North America, and I also serve as a co-chair of the immuno-gene therapy committee. And I'm also the commissioning editor of Cytotherapy.
SARAH REHMAN: You're doing a lot. Yeah, it's nice.
PATRICK HANLEY: So yeah, it's a busy meeting, but it's good.
SARAH REHMAN: Yeah. So how did you get into this?
PATRICK HANLEY: So I heard about ISCT back when I was at Baylor College of Medicine. I heard people going to Melbourne, Australia. And I said, "That's the society that I want to be involved in." And so I learned more about it and-- well, not just because it's an international society but also there's a lot of learning opportunities. I was able to get involved early. And so the manufacturing, the regulatory, the clinical practicing-- blending all of those with industry, I think that's just good fun for me.
SARAH REHMAN: Yeah. I think a big thing about ISCT is there's a lot of collaboration, there's a lot of conversation around how we can forward the field. What do you think is the biggest challenge that we're tackling overall in the industry right now?
PATRICK HANLEY: Oh, yeah. Workforce development. There's a shortage of talent. Yeah. I mean, I was sharing at session on the first day about access for patients in the community setting, so community oncologists, things like that, with CAR T-cells. And the first two questions were about workforce development, which is funny because it's not really somewhere you would think that people would talk about the workforce.
PATRICK HANLEY: But that was the first two questions-- is how we're going to train these people.
SARAH REHMAN: And so is that within research? Is it later on with the manufacturing?
PATRICK HANLEY: Yeah. Everybody thinks that it's a different focus, but I will say it's across the board, whether it's a physician, scientists developing the novel therapies, regulatory folks who have the training and expertise. Because cell and gene therapy is different than developing a small molecule, and many people don't appreciate that. Manufacturing expertise, there's definitely a shortage of that. And finally, the shortage of qualified staff to just make the products.
SARAH REHMAN: It's interesting. I feel like the space is big enough now that a lot of money being funneled into it, and maybe not enough people to figure it out. Right?
PATRICK HANLEY: Yeah, yeah. Well, if you think about it when you're growing up, first, I wanted to be a construction worker and drive the backhoe. But eventually, I wanted to be a doctor. You don't have a lot of people growing up and be like, I want to be a manufacturing associate, or working in a warehouse. But really, when it comes to cell and gene therapy, you are making a person's potential cure.
PATRICK HANLEY: And it's really exciting. So I think we need to get the word out to high school students, to college students, even after graduation and with PhD students, right? I think there's just a lot of opportunities at different levels.
SARAH REHMAN: Yeah. Really, it's just a lack of people knowing what's out there, I guess.
PATRICK HANLEY: Yup, exactly.
SARAH REHMAN: I think that's kind of what I like about RegMedNet. Where science comes. We're spreading the word, not only to the public or academic audiences but also through to vendors, and manufacturers, and things like that and so on.
PATRICK HANLEY: Yeah, it sounds like a good fit, then. Yeah.
SARAH REHMAN: Yeah, it's a good fit. So my next question for you is, where do you think the future of this is going beyond workforce development?
PATRICK HANLEY: Yeah. No, of course. I think simpler delivery. Right now we have anywhere between a 19 and 24-day process for a CAR T-cell delivery. Collect to the hospital, ship fresh or frozen to a manufacturing center somewhere far away. That gets shipped back 20 days later or about. And then you have to make sure the patient's scheduled for infusion.
PATRICK HANLEY: So you're talking a month or even a lot longer before you even start thinking about that. We're hearing today at this meeting about one day, three-day manufacturing processes, right? And so that's going to provide a lot better access for patients. And I hope, personally, that it drives down the cost of these drugs because you don't have to grow them for 18 days. And again, I think just the patient access is where we want to make the difference.
PATRICK HANLEY: And so that's where I see us going. I think automation is going to be a huge part of that from the manufacturing standpoint to the quality control and just the overall release of the product, I think. It's still the early days of CAR T-cell therapy, but I think things are going to be a lot easier moving forward.
SARAH REHMAN: And there has been a lot of news lately about real promise and proof of concept, things like that.
PATRICK HANLEY: Yeah, I mean, you just-- first, you had CD19 CAR T-cells for leukemia, soon after for lymphoma, and you had it for multiple myeloma. And hopefully soon, we'll have it for solid tumors. I think we're still ways away, but that promise is still there.
SARAH REHMAN: Yeah, it's amazing.
PATRICK HANLEY: Yeah, we'll see. Also, virus-specific T-cells, hopefully we'll see those. That's something I've been working on since I started with my PhD, and those have been going for 25 years now. And so it used to be that patient had a viral infection after a bone marrow transplant. They would call up an academic center who would manufacture those cells and either ship them or have the patient come to the hospital in a very boutique fashion.
PATRICK HANLEY: So the fact that now, we're finally looking at companies who are going to license that, that's really important that it's no longer just a boutique thing, because it's all about patient access.
SARAH REHMAN: Exactly. Making it-- I saw there's a talk on today actually about bringing therapies to lesser-developed countries. Right now, we see it in America, we see it in Europe, where we are first-world countries. So how do we improve patient access globally? It's maybe the next step as well.
PATRICK HANLEY: Yeah. And it goes back to that simplicity that I've mentioned before. If you have a really complicated process that has to ship across the world, it makes it a lot harder to give those therapies to patients. But if it only takes one or two days, those patients can stick around and they can have the access to that patient. A lot of patients that get treated with CAR T-cells, they have to stay in nearby Ronald McDonald houses or other housing that's provided by the hospital because there's the concerns that they have CRS or something like that.
PATRICK HANLEY: And then they end up in a hospital that isn't capable or they don't have the experience to take care of that.
SARAH REHMAN: My final question for you--
PATRICK HANLEY: Of the day?
SARAH REHMAN: Of the day, is what do you-- what has been your favorite part of this particular ISCT meeting?
PATRICK HANLEY: Seeing people in person. Come on, right?
SARAH REHMAN: After two years, three years of COVID. I don't know how long it's been.
PATRICK HANLEY: I know. So absolutely, right? And it's still hard to tell who's who with the masks on and things like that, you know the, oh, hey. But it's so great to see everybody in person and smile. And there's that lack of-- the interpersonal that you don't have via Zoom, right? Just sitting here and smiling and laughing with you, it's hard to do it via Zoom.
SARAH REHMAN: Definitely, definitely. Or you can see names that you've definitely emailed before. I know you. And you know me, but we've never see each other before.
PATRICK HANLEY: This has happened to at least five times already. Yes, exactly.
SARAH REHMAN: It's a lot of fun. It's amazing.
PATRICK HANLEY: Yup, I agree. So that's my favorite part.
SARAH REHMAN: Yeah, me too. I look forward to Paris next year.
PATRICK HANLEY: Amen. Yes.
SARAH REHMAN: Yes, I'll be there. [MUSIC PLAYING]