• <a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/china-leads-us-global-competition-key-emerging-technology-study-says-2023-03-02/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">China</a> has a "stunning lead" in 37 out of 44 critical and emerging technologies, a security think tank study showed. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute tracked defense, space, energy, and biotechnology, funded by the US State Department. The results showed found the US was often second-ranked as Western democracies lose the global competition for research output.

Aposto World

The US-based biotechnology company Moderna, whose name we often heard during the pandemic, came out with some <a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11533153/New-paradigm-moment-mRNA-cancer-vaccine-slashes-risk-tumor-relapse-death.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">news</a> that inspired hope in millions.Moderna announced that the 'personalised cancer vaccine' developed with the US-based pharmaceutical company Merck (MSD), when used with an immunotherapy drug, reduces the recurrence rate of the disease and the risk of death in melanoma patients, one of the most dangerous types of skin cancer, by 44% compared to drug use alone. It was stated that the cancer vaccine, developed 'specially' for each patient with the mRNA technology used by Moderna in the coronavirus vaccine, uses genetic code fragments obtained from the tumours of cancer patients and 'trains' the body to fight against cancer.<h3 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">How does it work?</h3>To develop the vaccine, scientists first analysed DNA taken from each patient's cancerous cells through biopsy and identified mutations called neoepitopes in tumour cells. They then identified a few dozen of these neoepitopes that they thought would generate the strongest immune response in a patient, and added 'messenger RNA', or mRNA technology, the molecule that carries the genetic code of these neoepitopes and a cell's instructions to produce proteins, to the vaccine. It was discovered that when mRNA enters the body, the patient's cells are instructed to produce neoepitopes, which triggers an immune response that allows cancer cells to be better targeted and destroyed.<h3 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Tthe testing process</h3>The vaccine was tested on a total of 157 patients with stage 3 and 4 melanoma, the most lethal type, in combination with a course of Keytruda, an immunotherapy drug developed by Merck that releases barriers in the immune system to fight cancer, in nine doses every three weeks. By comparing this group of patients, who received the treatment after their tumours had been surgically removed, with a control group of high-risk melanoma patients who had undergone surgery but only received the immunotherapy Keytruda treatment, it was discovered that the new treatment achieved 44% success rate.Stating that the results are extremely 'encouraging' for cancer treatment, Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, said, 'mRNA has been transformative for COVID-19, and now, for the first time ever, we have demonstrated the potential for mRNA to have an impact on outcomes in a randomized clinical trial in melanoma.' Bancel announced plans to test the vaccine on other cancer types with the purpose of offering personalised cancer treatments to cancer patients.&nbsp;<h3 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Obstacles on the road to a cancer vaccine</h3>According to Elias Sayour, a neurosurgeon at the University of Florida who works on cancer vaccines at the RNA Engineering Laboratory, it is theoretically possible for an mRNA manufacturer to produce a personalised cancer vaccine in as little as four weeks. In practice, however, Sayour says, much more mutation detection algorithms and much more testing are needed before mRNA vaccines are ready for routine use in cancers.Sayour underlines that mRNA will probably work better for some cancers than others. Stating that not all cancers are immunogenic, that is, they do not trigger an immune response, Sayour states that it is difficult to know which protein should be encoded in an mRNA vaccine without an immune response.On the other hand, according to Henry Wang, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Michigan who works on vaccine production, the production of the vaccine is a much bigger problem than Sayour emphasises. Producing an mRNA vaccine for cancer is quite different from producing an mRNA vaccine for Covid-19. This raises questions such as how to scale up the production of a drug that requires such careful and detailed customisation, and how to manage the process.Of course, there is also the financial dimension. Although it raises hope that humanity can prevail in the war against cancer, it seems that Moderna's new vaccine may not be accessible to everyone. Similar cancer vaccines currently cost about 100 thousand dollars per dose.

Aposto Science

Does the cure for cancer lie within mRNA technology?

• <a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.ft.com/content/607d8b12-2447-42e2-a6dd-e9123016e81b" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">US activist investor Jeff Ubben</a> has taken a $500 million stake in Bayer through his firm Inclusive Capital Partners, the San Francisco-based firm announced on Monday. The investment amounts to almost 1% of the German pharmaceutical and biotechnology company that is still reeling from litigation over its weedkiller Roundup and years of shareholder discontent.<img src="https://images.aposto.com/2023/0/1/1673292894622.png" style="display: block; float: none; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" ratio="1.79" width="550" alt="Jeff Ubben" fr-original-style="display: block; float: none; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">via FT<ul fr-original-style="padding-inline-start: 20px;" style="padding-inline-start: 20px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; list-style-position: inside; box-sizing: border-box;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Zoom out: Bayer is looking for a new leader to replace chief executive Werner Baumann, who is due to leave his post in 2024, the Financial Times reported. Baumann has been heavily criticized by shareholders for his ill-fated decision in 2016 to acquire seed maker Monsanto for $63 billion, the deal that brought Roundup under Bayer’s ownership.</li></ul>

• <a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/exclusive-monkey-brain-study-with-link-chinas-military-roils-top-european-2021-11-18/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">A Chinese professor at the University of Copenhagen</a>, Guojie Zhang, conducted genetic research with a Chinese military laboratory without disclosing the connection with the university until the paper was published.&nbsp;<ul fr-original-style="padding-inline-start: 20px;" style="padding-inline-start: 20px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; list-style-position: inside; box-sizing: border-box;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The deal: The research exposed monkeys to extreme altitude to observe their brains and develop new drugs to prevent brain damage, a priority the PLA has for Chinese troops that operate in high plateau borders like Tibet. Zhang said that he did not inform the university because reporting co-authors on scientific papers were not required by the institution.</li></ul><ul fr-original-style="padding-inline-start: 20px;" style="padding-inline-start: 20px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; list-style-position: inside; box-sizing: border-box;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The catch: This is the latest example on the concerns over China’s fusion of military-civilian technology and how it is tapping into universities in the strategically sensitive area of biotechnology.&nbsp;</li></ul>

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