ImaginAb celebrates the first screenings of Science Advisory Board member Dr. James Allison’s gripping documentary, Breakthrough, chronicling his discovery of the ground-breaking medicine that would become pivotal in the development of immunotherapy treatments for cancer.
Breakthrough, written, produced and directed by Bill Haney for Uncommon Productions, and narrated by eminent director and actor Woody Harrelson, follows Dr. Allison’s professional and personal journey over several decades. It is the astounding, true story of a warm-hearted, but determined man’s quest to find a cure for cancer. Breakthrough takes us into the inspiring and dramatic world of cutting-edge medicine, and the heart of a true American pioneer, in a film that is both emotionally compelling and deeply entertaining.
The most compelling image sequences in the Breakthrough documentary are the seconds when the face of immunologist Dr. James Allison, Ph.D., fills the frame amid superimposed images of his loved ones lost to cancer. For decades he waged a lonely struggle against the skepticism of the medical establishment and the resistance of Big Pharma. Today, Dr Allison, 70, is a name to be reckoned with throughout the scientific world. A 2018 Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine, held jointly with Japanese immunologist Tasuku Honjo, M.D., Ph.D., for the discovery of cancer therapies that stimulate the immune system to attack tumor cells, the treatments developed from Dr Allison’s work have extended the lives of thousands of people with advanced disease, though certain cancers have responded better to immunotherapy than others.
The team at ImaginAb are very proud to have Dr. Allison’s guidance as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board. With unparalleled expertise in the field of immunooncology, specifically, T-cell response and immune checkpoint blockade therapy, Dr Allison is an invaluable source of knowledge for ImaginAb as the company continues its work to transform the care pathway of cancer patients being treated with immunotherapy.