- CAR-T therapy can cure terminally ill cancer patients but it is prohibitively expensive, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
- Leveraging recent advances in chip technology scientists can create and mass produce small machines to re-engineer the immune system.
- But the scientific community needs public-private partnerships to ensure this medical breakthrough becomes accessible to everyone.
After suffering 16 months of chemotherapy for her leukaemia, treatment options for six-year-old Emily Whitehead had run out. Her parents began to fear the worst. As a last-ditch effort, the University of Pennsylvania enrolled Emily in a clinical trial that involved reprogramming her immune cells to destroy her cancer. The results were phenomenal. Emily not only survived, but nine years later she is a healthy teenager with no cancer.
Behind Emily’s recovery is CAR-T (Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cells ) a cell-based therapy that has become a revolutionary weapon in the treatment of previously incurable blood cancers.
CAR-T cell therapy genetically modifies a patient’s immune cells to hunt and kill cancer cells. It is a form of personalized immunotherapy that can provide lasting remissions, even to terminally ill patients who have just months to live and for whom classic treatment options have not worked.
More than 400 clinical trials of CAR-T therapies are currently in progress. Their impact could be enormous. According to the World Health Organization, cancer causes one in six deaths worldwide. Personalized cell therapy has the potential to save millions of lives. Preliminary data even suggests that engineering immune cells may one day be used to treat heart failure, autoimmune diseases, diabetes and HIV.
Why does CAR-T cost so much?
But unit economics are hobbling the rollout of CAR-T to the full number of patients whose lives it could save. The treatment alone can cost up to $475,000 and US hospitals can charge as much as $1.5 million to administer it, once ancillary costs are taken into account.
So why this high price? With conventional therapies, drug makers get economies of scale: the more they produce, the cheaper each dose becomes.
But CAR-T is tailor-made for each patient, and behind every treatment lies a highly sophisticated process, which is time-consuming and brutally expensive.
The patient’s immune cells are collected, purified in various steps, genetically modified, formulated at the right dose and reinfused. This complex manufacturing process requires shipments to different labs and frequent manual interventions, which introduce the risk of human error and potentially life-threatening side effects. Compounded by the fact that CAR-T consists of living cells that vary in potency, manufacturers need to continuously test results throughout the process.
The result is a production time that can take weeks, and an unaffordable price. Unless these economics change, this treatment will not reach patients whose lives it could save – it will only reach those privileged enough to afford it.
Technology holds the key to reducing costs
There is, however, hope. The most recent insights in nanotechnology, artificial intelligence (AI), biosensors, and the Internet of Things could help overcome the current roadblocks in making personalized cell therapies affordable.
The solution to democratize these therapies lies in automating their manufacturing process, which would reduce the cost, time, and risks significantly. This will require several engineering breakthroughs but is technically possible.
Recent advances in chip technology provide inspiration. The modern world’s insatiable demand for better computers, gaming consoles, and smartphones has resulted in the extreme miniaturization of transistors – the components which drive technology’s processing capacity – as more transistors on smaller circuits enables new and stronger technological abilities…..
News
Does Space-Time Really Exist?
Is time something that flows — or just an illusion? Exploring space-time as either a fixed “block universe” or a dynamic fabric reveals deeper mysteries about existence, change, and the very nature of reality. [...]
Unlocking hidden soil microbes for new antibiotics
Most bacteria cannot be cultured in the lab-and that's been bad news for medicine. Many of our frontline antibiotics originated from microbes, yet as antibiotic resistance spreads and drug pipelines run dry, the soil [...]
By working together, cells can extend their senses beyond their direct environment
The story of the princess and the pea evokes an image of a highly sensitive young royal woman so refined, she can sense a pea under a stack of mattresses. When it comes to [...]
Overworked Brain Cells May Hold the Key to Parkinson’s
Scientists at Gladstone Institutes uncovered a surprising reason why dopamine-producing neurons, crucial for smooth body movements, die in Parkinson’s disease. In mice, when these neurons were kept overactive for weeks, they began to falter, [...]
Old tires find new life: Rubber particles strengthen superhydrophobic coatings against corrosion
Development of highly robust superhydrophobic anti-corrosion coating using recycled tire rubber particles. Superhydrophobic materials offer a strategy for developing marine anti-corrosion materials due to their low solid-liquid contact area and low surface energy. However, [...]
This implant could soon allow you to read minds
Mind reading: Long a science fiction fantasy, today an increasingly concrete scientific goal. Researchers at Stanford University have succeeded in decoding internal language in real time thanks to a brain implant and artificial intelligence. [...]
A New Weapon Against Cancer: Cold Plasma Destroys Hidden Tumor Cells
Cold plasma penetrates deep into tumors and attacks cancer cells. Short-lived molecules were identified as key drivers. Scientists at the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP), working with colleagues from Greifswald University Hospital and [...]
This Common Sleep Aid May Also Protect Your Brain From Alzheimer’s
Lemborexant and similar sleep medications show potential for treating tau-related disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease. New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis shows that a commonly used sleep medication can restore normal sleep patterns and [...]
Sugar-Coated Nanoparticles Boost Cancer Drug Efficacy
A team of researchers at the University of Mississippi has discovered that coating cancer treatment carrying nanoparticles in a sugar-like material increases their treatment efficacy. They reported their findings in Advanced Healthcare Materials. Over a tenth of breast [...]
Nanoparticle-Based Vaccine Shows Promise in Fighting Cancer
In a study published in OncoImmunology, researchers from the German Cancer Research Center and Heidelberg University have created a therapeutic vaccine that mobilizes the immune system to target cancer cells. The researchers demonstrated that virus peptides combined [...]
Quantitative imaging method reveals how cells rapidly sort and transport lipids
Lipids are difficult to detect with light microscopy. Using a new chemical labeling strategy, a Dresden-based team led by André Nadler at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) and [...]
Ancient DNA reveals cause of world’s first recorded pandemic
Scientists have confirmed that the Justinian Plague, the world’s first recorded pandemic, was caused by Yersinia pestis, the same bacterium behind the Black Death. Dating back some 1,500 years and long described in historical texts but [...]
“AI Is Not Intelligent at All” – Expert Warns of Worldwide Threat to Human Dignity
Opaque AI systems risk undermining human rights and dignity. Global cooperation is needed to ensure protection. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has changed how people interact, but it also poses a global risk to human [...]
Nanomotors: Where Are They Now?
First introduced in 2004, nanomotors have steadily advanced from a scientific curiosity to a practical technology with wide-ranging applications. This article explores the key developments, recent innovations, and major uses of nanomotors today. A [...]
Study Finds 95% of Tested Beers Contain Toxic “Forever Chemicals”
Researchers found PFAS in 95% of tested beers, with the highest levels linked to contaminated local water sources. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), better known as forever chemicals, are gaining notoriety for their ability [...]
Long COVID Symptoms Are Closer To A Stroke Or Parkinson’s Disease Than Fatigue
When most people get sick with COVID-19 today, they think of it as a brief illness, similar to a cold. However, for a large number of people, the illness doesn't end there. The World [...]
