Small nimble biotechs to introduce a 'golden age' for next generation therapies

Chinese research and development platform company WuXi AppTec – has published a new report on the prospects of immunotherapy treatments, and identified smaller, nimble biotechs and early-stage companies as the single biggest factor behind the next generation of approaches in development.

The report concludes that the next five years will be the most promising in the fight against cancer with immunotherapies – such as CAR-T and moderating T-Cell approaches, and innate immunity therapies – delivering far better patient outcomes.

In the last five years, the industry has rapidly advanced its understanding of the body’s immune response and genetic markers. As a result, combination therapies (chemotherapies will continue to play an important role) are forecast to become an increasingly standardized treatment with pharma keen to invest. These newer options are bringing in transformative remission rates, and check-point inhibitors have already been seen to elicit long term cures in patients, with success rates at two-to-three times more than standard chemotherapy approaches.