[비즈한국] Beloved national actor Ahn Sung-ki passed away on the 5th at the age of 74 after a battle with blood cancer. As waves of mourning follow the sad news of the actor—who graced the screen in 137 films including “Silmido,” “Radio Star,” and “Nowhere to Hide” with his gentle smile—public interest is focusing on “Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma,” the ailment that afflicted the late actor.
Painless lumps and unexplained fevers... ‘Silent signals’
Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma is a representative blood cancer that originates in the lymphatic system, which constitutes the body's immune system. According to Asan Medical Center, the incidence of malignant lymphoma increases in people with congenital or acquired weakened immune functions, those with autoimmune diseases, those with diseases that destroy immune functions like AIDS, patients taking long-term immunosuppressants after organ transplants, and those who have previously received high doses of radiation or chemotherapy.
The hallmark symptom is feeling lumps in areas with lymph nodes, such as the neck, armpits, or groin. A characteristic feature is that these lumps are often painless, leading many to mistake them for simple swelling and seek medical attention late. Systemic symptoms include fever, weight loss, night sweats, fatigue, and itching. In cases of malignant lymphoma occurring in organs outside the lymph nodes, those areas may also swell.
The emergence of miraculous anti-cancer drugs nearing a cure
Currently, the standard treatment for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma is the “R-CHOP” regimen, which has been used since 2002. It involves the combined administration of five drugs, including one targeted therapy, three chemotherapeutic agents, and one steroid, every three weeks. This method, which precisely targets cancer cells by focusing on proteins on the surface of B-cells, has changed the paradigm of lymphoma treatment and dramatically increased survival rates.
According to statistics from the National Cancer Information Center, the 5-year relative survival rate for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma is about 65.7%, making it a type of cancer that responds well to chemotherapy and radiation therapy. The survival rate is even higher when the cancer is localized.
However, if the first-line treatment fails or the cancer recurs, the 2-year survival rate drops significantly to below 20%. When primary treatment fails, high-dose chemotherapy and autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation are performed. Immuno-oncology drugs recently released by global pharmaceutical companies are mainly used when second-line treatment fails, but the trend is for these to be used at earlier stages.
Bispecific antibody therapies like Roche’s “Columvi” and AbbVie’s “Epkinly” work simultaneously on cancer cells and immune cells to increase tumor removal efficacy. Novartis’s “Kymriah” and Gilead’s “Yescarta,” which are CAR-T (Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell) therapies, extract immune T-cells from the patient’s blood, genetically modify them, and then re-inject them into the patient’s body to destroy the tumor. As a personalized treatment, it is also called a “miracle drug” because it can provide near-cure results in terminal blood cancer patients with just a single administration.
‘Expectations for Korea’s first CAR-T therapy’: Curocell374440 and others challenge the field
In Korea, Curocell is awaiting approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for its CAR-T therapy “Anvacel.” Expected to become Korea's first domestic CAR-T therapy upon approval, Anvacel is anticipated to show higher therapeutic efficacy and safety compared to Kymriah and Yescarta.
According to presentation materials from the European Hematology Association (EHA) and Curocell, Anvacel’s complete remission rate (CR) was 67%, surpassing Kymriah (40%) and Yescarta (54%). The incidence of grade 3 or higher severe cytokine release syndrome, a representative side effect of CAR-T therapies, was reported at 9% for Anvacel, while it was 22% for Kymriah and 11% for Yescarta. The incidence of severe side effects involving the brain and nervous system was only 4% for the Anvacel group, compared to 12% for Kymriah and 33% for Yescarta, indicating that Anvacel’s safety is relatively higher.
AbClon174900 is developing “AT101 (Nesfecel),” which enhances therapeutic efficacy by acting on a different protein site than existing CAR-T therapies, and GC Cell144510 is researching treatments utilizing NK (Natural Killer) cells derived from the umbilical cord blood of healthy individuals. Hanmi Pharmaceutical128940 is conducting Phase 1 clinical trials in Korea and Australia for “HM97662,” a next-generation oral targeted anti-cancer drug candidate that inhibits the gene-regulating proteins “EZH1” and “EZH2” simultaneously.