When you say it’s not yet practical, are we missing some key steps, or could it be done at high enough cost with current technology but can’t scale?
I imagine a startup which cured rich people’s cancers on a case by case basis would have a lot of customers, which would help drive prices down as the technology improved.
The cost would probably be a significant fraction of the development of a new monoclonal antibody treatment, making this currently probably limited to billionaires.
Personalized drug development on that scale isn’t something that can simply be purchased, and if billionaires tried, governments would probably block them, because voters would consider that unfair, and because cancer researchers can’t simply be increased in proportion to budgets. There are only so many people with the relevant skills and inclinations.
Better methods for development wouldn’t just reduce costs, but would also reduce time taken. There would need to be a billionaire, diagnosed with cancer without a good treatment, who would clearly die from it, but not for a couple years.
Better methods and understanding wouldn’t just reduce costs and time, they’d also reduce risks. Targeting a receptor that’s actually important normally but wasn’t fully understood could kill someone before the cancer.
I imagine a startup of this ilk could be based in Prospera, which wouldn’t be a problem for the wealthy few to travel there for personalised treatment.
I also imagine that with a lighter regulatory regime, no need to scale up production, and no need for lengthy trials, developing a monoclonal antibody would be much quicker and cheaper. Consider how quickly COVID vaccines were found compared to when they were ready for use.
It doesn’t have to be made on-demand for a specific person. It can be off-the-shelf precision medicine. Say there are 20 different antigens targeted. A company can produce those vaccines for 20 types, then the doctor can order the correct one(s) based on the tumor’s genetic profile. This is how precision medicine is expected to be done. In some ways, it’s already done in various areas, like blood types.
When you say it’s not yet practical, are we missing some key steps, or could it be done at high enough cost with current technology but can’t scale?
I imagine a startup which cured rich people’s cancers on a case by case basis would have a lot of customers, which would help drive prices down as the technology improved.
There are a few issues with that.
The cost would probably be a significant fraction of the development of a new monoclonal antibody treatment, making this currently probably limited to billionaires.
Personalized drug development on that scale isn’t something that can simply be purchased, and if billionaires tried, governments would probably block them, because voters would consider that unfair, and because cancer researchers can’t simply be increased in proportion to budgets. There are only so many people with the relevant skills and inclinations.
Better methods for development wouldn’t just reduce costs, but would also reduce time taken. There would need to be a billionaire, diagnosed with cancer without a good treatment, who would clearly die from it, but not for a couple years.
Better methods and understanding wouldn’t just reduce costs and time, they’d also reduce risks. Targeting a receptor that’s actually important normally but wasn’t fully understood could kill someone before the cancer.
Makes sense thanks!
I imagine a startup of this ilk could be based in Prospera, which wouldn’t be a problem for the wealthy few to travel there for personalised treatment.
I also imagine that with a lighter regulatory regime, no need to scale up production, and no need for lengthy trials, developing a monoclonal antibody would be much quicker and cheaper. Consider how quickly COVID vaccines were found compared to when they were ready for use.
The other hurdles sound significant though.
It doesn’t have to be made on-demand for a specific person. It can be off-the-shelf precision medicine. Say there are 20 different antigens targeted. A company can produce those vaccines for 20 types, then the doctor can order the correct one(s) based on the tumor’s genetic profile. This is how precision medicine is expected to be done. In some ways, it’s already done in various areas, like blood types.