Wider availability of cheaper CAR-T cell therapy or engineering immune cells to treat blood cancer and a government HPV vaccination programme will be among the key breakthroughs
From newer therapies for Alzheimer’s disease to
developing off-the-shelf gene therapies for cancer, 2024 holds out hope for
exciting developments in medicine that can transform our lives. Wider
availability of cheaper CAR-T cell therapy or engineering immune cells to treat
blood cancer and a government HPV vaccination programme will be among the key
breakthroughs we must watch out for in India.
1) Use of
mRNA vaccines for cancer treatment
While the mRNA vaccines came into prominence — and
received first regulatory approvals — during the pandemic, researchers for
years have been working with the technology to treat cancers. Although these
therapies have not been approved yet for standard treatment of cancers, early
clinical trials have shown encouraging results. Over 25 trials of mRNA-based
vaccines are under way for the treatment of cancers of the lung, pancreas,
skin, nerve cells, head, neck and prostate among others.
These vaccines don’t really protect you from getting
the cancer, they help in boosting immune response against cancer cells, thereby
helping in treatment of the cancers or preventing a relapse.
2) New
Alzheimer’s therapies
The approval of the Alzheimer’s drug Lecanemab in 2023
led to a lot of excitement among doctors. This is because the condition remains
without any targetted drug, with researchers still not agreeing on the root
cause of the disease. The drug reduces beta-amyloid protein deposition — one of
the key features visible on MRIs of Alzheimer’s patients — thereby slowing
cognitive decline. Lilly’s Donanemab is another drug that targets the same
pathway and is currently in late clinical trial stages. In addition, there are
therapies under development that work on synaptic plasticity (ability of the
neurons to modify connections), neurotransmitter receptors and inflammation.
Studies are also under way to see whether the
blockbuster weight-loss drug, Semaglutide, that is thought to improve nerve
cells, inflammation and vascular health, may slow the progression of
Alzheimer’s disease.
3) More
CRISPR therapies
Last year, the first therapy based on the Nobel
Prize-winning CRISPR technology received approval for the treatment of sickle
cell disease and beta thalassemia. This, however, marked the beginning of other
therapies based on the technology. The company, CRISPR Therapeutics, is also
working on therapies for Type-1 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. One of
the important applications of the easy-to-use gene editing technology will be
to develop off-the-shelf CAR-T cell therapies for cancer treatment. These
cutting edge therapies currently depend on taking the patient’s own immune
cells and modifying them in a lab to identify and kill cancer cells. This kind
of personalised therapies do not allow for large scale manufacturing, thereby
keeping costs high. Crispr can help in developing universal CAR-T therapies.
4) CAR-T
therapies become accessible in India
With an indigenous Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell
therapy or CAR-T cell therapy developed by IIT Bombay and Tata Memorial
receiving approval in India, several tertiary care hospitals have now adopted
the technology. This year will see more and more patients of two types of
relapsed blood cancers receiving the cutting-edge treatment, which is also much
cheaper than its counterparts available elsewhere in the world. The data of the
patients receiving the therapy in big hospitals will be maintained for a period
of 15 years to see whether there are any side-effects of the treatment.
5)
Government HPV vaccination programme
With a cheaper, indigenously developed vaccine against
the Human Papillomavirus by the Serum Institute of India becoming available,
the government is soon likely to roll out a vaccination campaign for girls
between the ages of 9 and 14 years in a phased manner.
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