While personalized CAR-T cancer therapies make headlines in biotech, Amgen has been betting big on another tumor-killing approach with, yes, another acronym: BiTEs.
The trademarked term stands for a bi-specific T-cell engager — an antibody that can grab both immune cells and tumor cells and help encourage the body’s natural defenses to produce tumor-killing proteins. The Food and Drug Administration has already approved one of Amgen’s BiTE-based therapies, Blincyto, for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. And the company is pushing forward with BiTEs for treating other types of cancer, like multiple myeloma, glioblastoma, and other solid tumors.
