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Community Health System and Valley Children’s Healthcare are leading the charge in Central Valley cancer treatment, bringing advanced cellular and gene therapies — including CAR-T therapy — closer to home for local patients.

Local patients face an economic burden from repeated trips for specialty care in Los Angeles or the Bay Area.

Now, the two major medical institutions are building local programs that place the region on par with other regenerative medicine hubs in California.

Care infusion

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) recently awarded the Community Cancer Institute $9 million to establish the Central Valley Community Care Center of Excellence (CCCE) in regenerative medicine.

The Community Cancer Institute is located on the campus of Clovis Community Medical Center.

Under the leadership of Dr. Haifaa Abdulhaq, director of cellular therapy at Community Cancer Institute and director of hematology at UCSF Fresno, the center hopes to serve as “a transformative step” in expanding cellular and gene therapy access for patients.

“This honor demonstrates the commitment of our entire Community team, including board members, physicians and donors, to provide the latest and highest level of cancer care for Valley patients,” said Craig Wagoner, president and CEO of Community Health System. “Collaboration with Dr. Haifaa Abdulhaq and other top medical schools in California for this new center ensures patients have cancer treatment and therapies like no other in our region.”

Through the CCCE, the provider hopes to build a comprehensive local infrastructure for manufacturing and delivering cell and gene therapies.

The center will partner locally with UCSF, as well as with UC Davis, to bring more clinical trials to the region, as well as training the large numbers of staff required to handle the regenerative medical practices.

“At Community Cancer Institute, we are dedicated to bringing the most advanced therapies directly to our community,” Abdulhaq said. “Through this CIRM award, we are not only delivering cutting-edge cancer treatments like CAR-T, but we are building a foundation for regenerative medicine that will transform care for patients with cancers, sickle cell disease, neurological disorders, and immune-mediated conditions right here in the Central Valley.”

Changing the game

Clovis Community is the first and only center in the Central Valley to offer CAR-T therapy — a highly advanced treatment that reprograms a patient’s own immune cells to identify and attack cancer.

“Currently, CAR-Ts are FDA approved for patients who have relapsed lymphoma and myeloma, as well as acute leukemia,” Abdulhaq said. “These treatments cannot be offered outside of tertiary centers where they have a multidisciplinary team.”

The therapy, which has been in development since 2017, requires specialized facilities and a coordinated team of physicians, nurses and lab experts. Locally, Community began developing its program in 2019, but faced delays in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, after years of planning and development, the hospital received its certification last year, successfully performing its first CAR-T transplant earlier this year.

The first patient treated, who had an aggressive form of lymphoma, has been cancer-free for three months.

“This particular patient, I felt that treatment was very important for her because she had an aggressive lymphoma and she needed it,” Abdulhaq said. “And at the same time, she said there’s no way that she can travel to get it.”

The patient had waited for the treatment to be approved locally, being required to go through a myriad of insurance hurdles.

Today, she has returned to work and is enjoying life with her grandchildren.

Community’s second patient, 75, has also responded well to the therapy.

Abdulhaq said that, for many years, hardships took their toll on family finances, time and morale.

“Most importantly, many of the patients that we referred were not able to get these treatments because of this hardship,” she said. “We saw the need and felt we were in the best place to build the program for our patients.”

Expanding the vision

Community’s new Center of Excellence (CCCE) will also soon house a Good Manufacturing Practice laboratory, providing the opportunity to produce cell therapies locally, reducing the reliance on outside facilities and expediting treatment times.

The new facility will support access to new clinical trials and launch collaborative fellowship programs with UC Davis and UCSF.

The center’s outreach component will also partner with local organizations serving Latinx, Black, Southeast Asian, Native American and veteran populations, serving as a key step in addressing health care equity in the Valley.

The integration of care, research and education will help CCCE become a model for future community-based medical endeavours, bridging the gap between major research institutions and local hospitals.

Valley Children’s move

In May, Valley Children’s Hospital received a historic $15 million donation to establish its own advanced cell therapy program for pediatric cancer, including the opportunity for bone marrow and CAR-T cell therapy.

“This gift will bring transformational cancer therapies directly to the children whose families look to us to provide them with the best care in the country,” said Todd Suntrapak, president and CEO of Valley Children’s Healthcare. “Children who need these advanced therapies will no longer have to travel long distances and spend extended days away from home to get treatment and will be able to receive life-saving therapies in a familiar setting, with their families close by.”

Dr. Vinod Balasa, medical director of Valley Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorder Center, said the donation will allow the hospital to join the ranks of top children’s hospitals in the nation who also offer these therapies.

“With this amazing donation, Valley Children’s joins the ranks of the top children’s hospitals in the nation that can offer these therapies, as well as be among the first to have access to future advances,” he said. “This is a life-saving advancement for our patients.”

The new program — The Dr. Vonda Lee Crouse Bone Marrow Transplant and Cell Therapy Program — hopes to come online by 2030. Once established, the facility will provide the same level of treatment that facilities out of the region offer.

Effective treatment

A Valley Children’s Hospital patient, Porterville child Royce Madrid, underwent the treatment at Stanford.

“CAR T saved him,” said Royce’s father, Rudy Madrid. “And we strongly believe that.”

Balasa echoed sentiments of CAR-T therapy’s role as the future of cancer treatment, explaining that, with the treatment, a child’s own immune system becomes a weapon against cancer.

“While chemotherapy uses a shotgun approach that can impact normal cells while it kills cancer cells, CAR T-cell therapy is a targeted treatment,” he said.

Royce is also now cancer-free.

“In starting the CAR T program here at Valley Children’s, we are ensuring that we are able to provide this state-of-the-art, life-saving treatment to our patients right here in the Central Valley and are positioning ourselves to continue advancing the care for the most complex and difficult cancer patients,” Balasa said. “It is a huge step forward in our efforts to providing the best care to every child.”