The fact that developing treatments for many diseases requires massive funding is no secret. Among the most deadly diseases is cancer, something that can come in different types and stages.
While today cancer is not as dangerous as it was two or three decades ago, with medicine having more treatment options in store, many people still die from it around the world. That may change, as research into special vaccines for the disease is being funded by Amazon.
Is Amazon going to help fight cancer?
Indeed, Amazon is developing a cancer vaccine in conjunction with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, with clinical trials approved by the FDA, which is the Food and Drug Administration, already underway. The aim would be to develop a personalized vaccine, or one that uses a patient’s DNA, to combat breast cancer and skin melanoma.
This vaccine could offer more targeted and precise cancer treatment at a lower cost. This method could be a good alternative to chemotherapy, which works more generally on the whole body and causes a host of side effects.
Development has already started
This cancer vaccine project has been established at Amazon’s secret lab called Grand Challenge. People involved in the cancer research team are apparently a small group of doctors and medical technology engineers.
The trial kicked off on June 9 and is scheduled to end in early November 2023. Twenty patients will participate in the first phase of the trial, testing a “medicinal product regulated by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States.”
“The process will be a long, multi-year trial. Should it unfold, we will be open to collaborating with other healthcare and life sciences organizations that may also be interested in a similar effort,” an Amazon spokesperson said.
Although things are progressing, the vaccine is still a distant matter, because everything that enters the market must pass rigorous, years-long FDA testing. Amazon is not the only player in the market for a personalized cancer treatment based on DNA sequencing, however, as Germany-based BioNTech is similarly working on something similar.
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