Amazon is partnering with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center of Seattle (where Jeff Bezos’ company is headquartered) to develop personalized and inexpensive vaccines against breast and skin cancer. The cancer vaccine, produced by Amazon’s Moonshot laboratory called Grand Challenge, will be tested on about twenty patients through a clinical trial (currently in the initial phase) approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Business Insider reported the news first.
The clinical study for a cancer vaccine
According to the newspaper, the vaccine is proposed as a more effective alternative to chemotherapy. The clinical trial, which started on June 9, 2022, is expected to end on November 1, 2023.
A cancer vaccine? It’s working on animals
by Viola Rita
Although Amazon has launched an online pharmacy service, an in-house diagnostic laboratory, a health monitoring device called Halo, and other health-related businesses in recent years, it’s the first time Amazon has experimented with its own drug.
Amazon: “Interested in other similar projects too”
In an email sent to Business Insider, the Amazon spokesperson confirmed the initiative, clarifying that it is led by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. He also hinted that Amazon is interested in partnering with other healthcare companies to work on similar projects. “Amazon – reads the exchange – is bringing its scientific and machine learning experience to Fred Hutch to explore the development of a personalized treatment for some forms of cancer. We are in its infancy, but Fred Hutch has recently received permission from the US FDA. to proceed with a trial phase I clinical trial and it is unclear whether it will be successful. “
Amazon and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Seattle first shared information about the trial in late October, according to an abstract published on Clinicaltrials.gov, an online clinical trial database maintained by National Library of Medicine of the United States.
The sample
In the abstract of the document published on Clinicaltrials.gov a total of 20 patients over the age of 18 are mentioned to test a “pharmaceutical product regulated by the US FDA”. Fred Hutchinson is referred to as the sponsor, while Amazon is referred to as the “contributor”. It is added that the safety of a “personalized neoantigen peptide vaccine” is being tested for the treatment of advanced stage melanoma (IIIC-IV) and the “Her2 negative hormone receptor positive” breast cancer that has spread and was resistant to treatment.
The duration of the trial
The FDA has very strict requirements for clinical trials, and each phase could take years to complete. The DNA sequencing-based personalized cancer treatment that Amazon wants to develop is a nascent field in cancer research, and other companies, such as Germany’s BioNTech, have also recently focused on similar focuses.