According to a publication from the Stamford Advocate, the Connecticut-based Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (or ACGT) has welcomed a new president and CEO in Kevin Honeycutt. Honeycutt has announced his intentions to build on the foundation’s successful legacy, in part by raising the group’s national prominence in the field.
The Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy
The ACGT is self-described as the only public charity in the country exclusively funding cell- and gene-based cancer therapies. It has done so successfully, too. In its almost 2 decades of operation, the ACGT has meted out 58 research grants worth a grand total of some $30 million.
Enter Kevin Honeycutt, coming off a three-year tour with the nonprofit Avon Breast Cancer Crusade as their president and CEO.
Honeycutt is proud of his nonprofit’s focus on gene and cell therapies, adding that only in recent years have these targeted treatments become reality instead of just science fiction. He praises ACGT founders Edward and Barbara Netter (Edward passed away in 2011) for their foresight – not many in 2001, the year of the ACGT’s founding, had faith in the then-highly experimental treatments.
The group collects donations at any number of events annually, and then distributes research grants to scientists developing cancer treatments based on targeted therapy.
“ACGT Believed in the Science”
One such scientist was Dr. Carl June, an immunotherapy professor at the University of Pennsylvania. For years he led the development of Kymriah, a novel immunotherapy for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The drug would win its FDA approval in 2017 under Novartis’ banner – though it didn’t always seem that success was certain.
Many organizations, including the National Institutes of Health, were hesitant to fund June’s research – seemingly concerned that gene therapy would be too risky to ever employ in a practical sense. The ACGT was not one of them.
“ACGT believed in the science and funded us when no one else would,” June recalled. The ACGT has given two grants to Dr. June to the tune of some $1.8 million, which helped fund the clinical trials for the drug that would become Kymriah.
Hopes for the Future
In addition to the group’s hopes to raise even more funding for scientists, Honeycutt has announced his own desire to build the ACGT’s national presence and explore other ways of funding research. By investing in early-stage biotech firms, the nonprofit could potentially enjoy a new, more consistent revenue stream.
“It’s a risk worth exploring,” Honeycutt said – and the ACGT has a lot of history with risks worth exploring.
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