Immunotherapy and Multiomics: Changing Cancer Prognosis
How immunotherapy could redefine cancer treatment.
| Opinion
What we asked: “Looking ahead to the next 5–10 years, what will be the key disruptors and/or what can be improved upon in the pharma industry?”
Response from: Søren Bregenholt, CEO, Alligator Bioscience
“Immunotherapy has already changed cancer treatment drastically over the last 10 years. In particular, immune checkpoint inhibitors (which remove the breaks from T cells) now provide effective options for difficult-to-treat cancers with reduced side effects when compared to chemotherapy. There are, however, numerous challenges to address, such as the indications where checkpoint inhibitors have limited effects.
“In the next ten years, advancements in personalized medicine will likely be driven by AI-supported development of new immunotherapies, biomarker discovery, and the integration of multiomic methods into clinical practice. These innovations aim to deliver more effective and safer treatments, improving patient outcomes and increasing the success rate for biopharma companies.
“The future of cancer treatment also lies in combination therapies that exploit the synergy between immunotherapy and other treatment methods, such as chemotherapy, radiation, and targeted therapies. Various combinations of approved and experimental treatments are being evaluated for their effectiveness. However, combination therapies also come with an increased risk of side effects, making it essential to develop immunotherapies with strong safety profiles. Achieving this will depend on optimizing dosing schedules when combining new immunotherapies with standard care, as recent progress has shown that proper dosing can significantly influence the success of these treatments.
“Further development of immunotherapies targeting innate immune cells will be crucial in complementing existing checkpoint inhibitors, which rely on a pre-existing tumor-specific T cell response. Current efforts to target myeloid cells aim to either deplete or inhibit immune-suppressive myeloid cells or to reprogram them. One approach uses CD40 agonists, which have shown the potential to overcome resistance to checkpoint inhibitors, increasing response rates in cancers where these inhibitors are already approved. Additionally, CD40 agonists have demonstrated synergy with chemotherapy in tumors resistant to checkpoint inhibitors, such as pancreatic cancer.
“In the near future, cancer treatment could change significantly, with immunotherapy providing options where conventional therapies fail. This is especially relevant for cancers like pancreatic cancer, which are often diagnosed at a late stage with a very poor prognosis. Today, such a diagnosis is often seen as a death sentence, but continued advancements in immunotherapy could offer these patients a chance for better outcomes.”
Read over 100 other views on the future of the pharma industry on our special web page.
