Coffee Shop Meeting Inspires Novel Way to Kill Cancer
- Tessa Therapeutics seeks about $100 million in extra funding
- Singapore biotech firm has two cancer drugs in clinical trials
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A meeting between an immunologist and an oncologist in a Singapore cafe seven years ago may go down as one pivotal moment in the war on cancer.
Over a coffee that turned into lunch, immunologist John Connolly and oncologist Han Chong Toh spent hours discussing ways to better harness the immune system to hunt down and kill malignant cells. Fast forward to April 2015, when cancer patients began receiving one of their experimental treatments in what their company says is the largest clinical study of its type in the world.