Report reveals biotech as the biggest driver for cancer treatments

Global pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical open access capability platform, WuXi AppTec, has published a report on immunotherapy, identifying that smaller biotech firms and early-stage companies will be the biggest driver behind therapy innovation.

The report, titled ‘Inside Perspectives: Will Immunotherapy Knock Out Cancer?’, predicts that in the next decade there will be a significant increase in the number of breakthroughs in immunotherapy as the industry becomes more knowledgeable to the human’s immune system.

Over the past five years, the report states that industry has rapidly improved its understanding of the body’s immune response and the utility of genetic markers. This has led to combination therapies becoming important and these have been forecast to become the standard treatment with keen investment from pharma.

With over 130 biotechs currently working on bringing new therapies to market — in addition to 20 big pharmas — a surge in innovations is anticipated.

“The current investor frenzy is comparable to that of the genomics industry at the turn of the century,” said Hui Cai, VP of Corporate Alliances and head of Communications at WuXi AppTec. “The experts we speak with argue that a more complete understanding of the genome and promise of clinical data of these transformative modalities will create a golden age for cancer therapy emerge over the next few years.”

However, some immediate challenges have been identified in the report, such as CAR-T, which despite showing good efficacy in blood cancers has not yet proven effective in solid tumours. An additional challenge was that of scope of patients that may be curable, for example, whether cures may be possible for patients suffering from late-stage metastatic cancer.

In conclusion, the report specifies that immunotherapies are progressing the fight against cancer by not simply offering patients an extension of life treatment but moving towards treatment options that improve patient experience and more effective cures. Additionally, the cost of newer therapies is becoming a focal point, although this is reported as a positive press on companies to produce significant results for patients.