Tumour Offensive: Striking from within

Since the first approval of a checkpoint blocker in 2011, immune therapy has revolutionised cancer treatment. How­ever, most tumours are still able to evade the immune response by creating an immuno­suppressive tumour microenvironment that blocks full activation of dormant T killer cells. A new generation of targeted cytokines is now on the cusp of helping us overcome that problem. The field looks set to change the treatment landscape in oncology in dramatic ways, and is providing new hope to those who contract cancers that are currently difficult or impossible to treat effectively.

In this issue:

EU needs strategies – During this year’s five-day digital AMR Conference, stakeholders said that unless incentives to improve market conditions aren’t instituted in Europe soon, more innovators in the space might have trouble just surviving, much less providing desperately needed novel antibiotics and diagnostics. Discussions on how to change this are ongoing.

A hydrogen economy – as part of its Green Deal climate protection programme, the European Commission is for the first time focusing on hydrogen as a wide-scale future energy source. The plan is to have the climate-neutral gas produced primarily via electrolysis. But biotechnological processes also offer sustainable alternatives. What opportunities do biotech solutions provide?

Focus:  CROs & CMOs

• Pandemic impact on contract research and biomanufacturing
• Interview: High need for antiviral mAbs
• BREXIT: EU clinical trials post-2020