A wish list for the New Year – What can science bring us in 2014?
23.01.14
Bettering Brain Health
Ageing populations and treatment gaps for age-related illnesses like Alzheimer’s have brought renewed focus to the importance of investing in brain research. This past December, the G8 Summit in London was devoted to the topic of dementia, highlighting just how prevalent a concern this has become. Research projects are ramping up to tackle the issue, including those under the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) – the public-private partnership between the pharmaceutical industry and the European Commission. Noteworthy examples include the European Medical Information Framework project; its results suggest that Alzheimer’s can be defined by CSF markers (if that sounds like gibberish, take a look at my blog explaining the study). With this knowledge, researchers can be more confident in targeting treatments aimed at preclinical AD – the period where AD is already developing in the body but symptoms aren’t yet visible.
Stem Cell Success Stories
Scientists continue to push ahead in their attempts to harness stem cell research. In Japan, scientists plan to start the first clinical trials (in people) using induced pluripotent stem cells (IPS). These are genetically engineered by manipulating the expression of certain genes – until now, this type of cell has not yet been understood well enough to make it ready for clinical use. It’s highly unlikely we’ll see any results this year, but it’s still a milestone worth watching.
Improving Immunotherapies
Immunotherapies – which harness the human body’s immune system to fight tumours – are one of the “final frontiers” in combating cancer – as EFPIA’s Richard Bergström explains in his blog. A number of clinical trials underway are looking to further immunotherapies in the fight against cancer. How these trials turn out could be significant not only for the patients they will help if successful, but also for the future promise of immunotherapies at large.
New Medicines for…
The exciting thing about the pharmaceutical sector and medicines development is the many different research initiatives and projects that are constantly underway. From rare disease treatments to improved vaccines that will better global health, companies around the world are seeking new solutions to improve healthcare outcomes. We continue, for instance, to explore targeted therapies, sometimes called “personalised medicines”. This is one of the areas highlighted specifically by the IMI2 strategic research agenda; projects devoted to harnessing the new sciences will help us further stratified personalised medicine and, in the long run, improve patient outcomes. By classifying a disease by its molecular makeup rather than its symptoms, this information can be combined with details about a patient’s genome to develop new and more effective targeted treatments. This is one area of research – among many – worth watching.
We can’t know now what will be the success story of 2014 at the moment. But looking at the list above, I think we will likely see some great developments in the year ahead. I look forward to seeing how this “wish list” looks by December.
