What happens before TIL therapy?

TIL therapy involves several steps before you can receive your new TILs:

• You will meet with your medical oncologist, who will explain the risks and benefits of TIL therapy. Together, you will decide if this treatment is right for you.
• If you are a candidate for TIL therapy, your surgeon will remove a portion of your tumor. You may be able to go home the same day.
• Your team will send your tumor sample to a biotech company that makes TIL therapy. The company will use special techniques to remove your TILs from your tumor and make more TILs. This takes about three weeks.
• Once we receive your frozen TILs back from the company, we will give you conditioning chemotherapy. This reduces your old T cells, giving the new TILs room to grow. Our team will give you three treatments of two chemotherapy drugs (fludarabine and cyclophosphamide) over the course of a week. We may also give you medication to prevent infections. After chemo, you can return home to rest.