Regulation of adoptive immunotherapy

Adoptive immunotherapy using chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified T cells has provided a major breakthrough in the treatment of hematological malignancies. In Japan, it is expected that CD19 CAR-T cell therapy will be introduced earlier in clinical B cell malignancy settings and/or that a novel CAR-T cell therapy will be developed for non-B cell malignancies. The "Act on the Safety of Regenerative Medicine" and the "Revised Pharmaceutical Affairs Act" were promulgated in 2014. Both Acts were very important to the introduction and development of CAR-T therapy in Japan. "Specified cell products" produced according to the former Act can be used in clinical research projects, while "regenerated medical products" produced according to the latter Act can be used in clinical trials, having been launched on the market. In this chapter, we will summarize the regulations pertaining to adoptive immunotherapy on the basis of these two essential Acts.