The coming golden age for medical science?
The impact COVID-19 has so far had on the human population has underscored the importance of medical science for the healthy functioning of our societies and economies. The pandemic has required fast solutions. And so there delivered, thanks to revolutionary technology in record time. Is this the time for medical science to take the centre stage?
The growing importance of science in all spheres of life is becoming obvious to the world – in not just providing everyday comforts and entertainment but for the very survival of our world. It will be science that will continue to generate solutions for the more efficient use of our planet’s natural resources, for the preservation of our ecosystem and climate stability, and our own health. Increasingly, these solutions are the product of inter-disciplinary approaches and this was also true for the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to the market in record time. It was a product of a strong effort involving research in the field of immunology or infective diseases, cancer studies, biotechnology in general, molecular biology and genetics.
The technologies used in COVID-19 vaccine development build on genetic medicine and even investigational anti-cancer therapies, the vaccines are based on messenger RNA (mRNA), DNA and viral vector platforms. Conventional vaccines usually contain weakened disease-causing organisms and their proteins to stimulate the immune response by the human body. But mRNA vaccines are different and, crucially, they do not introduce any elements of a harmful bacteria or virus into a patient’s body. They work by using a single stranded mRNA molecule from the virus’s own DNA that encodes for the full “spike protein” of the COVID-19 virus. The human body is, therefore, tricked to believe that it has been infected, and produces antibodies against this spike protein, antibodies that will offer protection if the real infection enters the body in the foreseeable future.
The mRNA technology has already been successfully used in the production of vaccines against influenza virus, Zika virus, rabies virus and others[1]. It has increased substantially the speed of drug discovery process, meaning that the time from the initial idea to the production of first batch of vaccine candidate is shortened, compared to traditional vaccine development. This is because large scale mRNA production is simpler, faster and more cost effective.
What does COVID-19 m-RNA vaccines mean for cancer treatments?
Cancer, in its multiple forms, is the second leading cause of global mortality. Given that some of cancers are treated using antibodies and that the origins of some cancers are linked to specific viruses, many asked if the use of the m-RNA technology for the development of COVID-19 vaccine would lead the way to new treatments for cancer.
It cannot be ruled out of course, but this technology has already been tried in cancer research. There has been some work to create an m-RNA-based cancer vaccine designed to instruct the body to produce a cancer-specific antigen that in turn would stimulate the immune system to target cancer cells (that express this antigen) Unfortunately, this work has not been successful yet but doubtless research in this area will continue. Some data from an early stage study, presented at a medical conference at the end of last year seemed to offer some hope. We will continue to monitor developments closely.
Future health built on innovations
The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly brought the importance of medical science to the forefront of public consciousness. But that is not all. Medical science has seen a lot of progress in the last fee decades. For example, oncology has made more progress over the past 15 years than it did during the whole of the 20th century. One of the biggest breakthroughs during this period was around the use of PD-1 inhibitors. PD-1 inhibitors and PD-L1 inhibitors are a group of drugs designed to block the interaction between cancer cells and the human immune system. The interesting aspect here is that while these new treatments proved quite effective on their own, scientists discovered that they work best in combination with the very established, old treatment - chemotherapy[2], at least for some cancers. Many of the most successful developments in cancer treatment are precisely about that – enhancing existing treatments or finding ways of achieving a similar outcome in a more targeted way and/or fewer side effects.
Our team has a lot of specialist knowledge in the field of medical science which we deploy to constantly analyse new drug developments, new screening tests and new tumour profiling methods. There are many developments that look very promising in pre-clinical tests but only clinical trials can determine if a drug offers real hope for patients. Therefore, we focus predominantly on clinical data to inform our investment decisions, alongside potential treatments’ mechanism of action and their pre-clinical package. We only make meaningful investments in treatments that are backed by promising clinical data, even if it based on a relatively small number of patients.
Better access for investors than ever
Funding is much less of an issue compares, compared to many years ago. Start up companies that come up with real innovative solutions in our field usually do not have a problem with initial financing. First seed capital comes from smart venture capital investors most of whom have very high levels of expertise and recognise the potential of particular innovations. Companies listed on a stock exchange also have an option of raising funds through issuing shares. And a crucial new source is that there are many more specialised funds, such as ours, that fund strong research pipelines on behalf of their risk-aware investors. Whether we see a golden age of medical science or not, investors are certainly better positioned than in the past to profit from some of its most successful innovations.
