The Good Biotechnology Samaritan

Is Amazon making your cancer vaccine?

I was today days old when I realized that Amazon (yes, that Amazon) launched a personalized cancer vaccine (PCV) effort using AI tools. (The clinical trial record is here). Wow.

Despite vast computing power and deep pockets, the early results look much like those of previous Neon and BioNTech studies, which disappointed. As I wrote last month, the Moderna/Merck study (which combined PCV with immune modulators) is much more encouraging.

Could the lackluster performance of a more recent BioNTech trial and Amazon's study be attributed to delivering potentially tolerogenic epitopes?

We have shown that screening these epitopes out improves the prediction of patient survival, and Ancer applies that filter to every PCV design. We also filter out tolerogenic epitopes from pathogen vaccines. And we rely on human-informed, validated tools for our vaccine design, over large language models. Another reason for caution? A lot of  AI tools are running rogue these days.

Choosing the right path

This brings to mind concerns about big tech moving into health innovation. Biotechnology offers two paths for those of us in the field. One is familiar: compete at any cost, maximize profit, borrow freely from others' work without credit, and step over anyone who is in the way. This approach leaves a great many people by the side of the road, especially where the need is greatest and the budgets are smallest.

The other path a biotechnology company can choose is to celebrate good science, follow inspiration where it leads, keep innovating, and make those innovations accessible, even to those who cannot pay full price.

At EVA (Equitable Vaccine Access) Therapeutics, we choose the second path. I learned from my dairy farmer grandfather about treating people fairly and about humane treatment of animals. Like many of you, if I encounter a traveler left by the side of the road, I will stop to help.  We want to make the world a better place for everyone, and everything.

How we will improve access

We offer vaccine design collaborations on a transparent sliding scale. Academic investigators in LMIC will get help at the lowest possible cost; larger biotech companies will pay a rate that reflects their resources. We are making our cancer vaccine design tools accessible so that all patients can have access to the latest advances.

What we offer

We use the same human-informed computational tools we've long used to tackle globally relevant pathogens with LMIC collaborators. For example, in one collaboration, we systematically identified conserved CD4 T cell epitopes across diverse malaria strains for a multi-epitope malaria vaccine.

Our vision is simple: better vaccines, including personalized cancer vaccines, should be within reach of everyone, not only those who can afford them.

The Time is Now

If you are an academic researcher or an LMIC-based biotech company with a promising vaccine idea, we would love to hear from you. Will we see you at the International Society for Vaccines conference in Antwerp? On Sunday Oct 11, we speak at a pre-conference session. The agenda is here. Let's meet! And let’s move your ideas from the theory to practice. Send us a meeting request today.