Hope, from a cancer breakthrough

The ideas and innovators shaping health care

Apr 17, 2023 View in browser   By Carmen Paun, Ruth Reader, Ben Leonard and Erin Schumaker THE NEXT CURES Moderna wants to follow up its blockbuster Covid vaccine with shots for cancer. | Maddie Meyer/Getty Images New cancer vaccines are on the horizon. Over the weekend, Moderna presented data at an oncology conference in Orlando from a Phase II clinical trial of an mRNA vaccine against a deadly skin cancer. The vaccine, when combined with Merck cancer therapy Keytruda, reduced by 44 percent the risk for death or recurrence of melanoma in people who had had surgery to remove an advanced form of the cancer compared with using Keytruda alone. Why it matters: The results have excited Moderna so much that CEO Stéphane Bancel told POLITICO he sees “incredible improvement” in cancer care in the next five to seven years. That doesn’t mean a cure, necessarily. More than 1 in 5 patients in Moderna’s vaccine trial saw their cancer return, for example. Still, numerous drug companies and organizations are competing to develop new products, exploiting advances in genetic sequencing and the pandemic success of the mRNA platform. Nearly 650 clinical trials involving vaccines for different cancers are ongoing worldwide, according to the U.S. clinical trials database, clinicaltrials.gov. More than a thousand clinical studies have been completed. Wide angle: Vaccines for cancers already exist. But they mostly combat cancer-causing viruses, such as human papillomavirus or hepatitis B. Others, like the Moderna shot, aim to treat people who already have the disease or prevent cancer recurrence among people in remission instead of preventing new cases. The FDA approved the first-ever vaccine used to treat cancer, sipuleucel-T, from California-based biotech firm Dendreon, in 2010. The vaccine uses a patient’s own immune cells to fight prostate cancer. But the vaccine’s price — $93,000 for a treatment course — and delays in securing FDA approval and CMS coverage contributed to Dendreon's 2015 bankruptcy. The vaccine has since remained available. Cancer vaccines like Moderna’s follow the same approach. Each injection is individualized, tailored to target cancer cells unique to each patient. Nearly 4 in 5 of the patients in the Moderna/Merck trial were cancer free 18 months later. What’s next: Moderna and Merck plan a Phase III trial this summer and hope to get FDA approval within two to three years.   STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.     WELCOME TO FUTURE PULSE Chebet goes back to back in Boston. | AP This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. Keep your eyes on xenobots, AI-designed living robots made from frog cells that computer scientists at Tufts University and the University of Vermont hope could one day drive breakthroughs in regenerative medicine. But that's a long way off. For now, the nascent technology is focused on primary science, Popular Science reports, including how cells communicate with each other. The Frankenfrogs can't eat or reproduce and only live for about a week. They're also biodegradable, since they're made of cells and tissue, and researchers can program them to fall apart at the end of their lives. Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Ben Leonard at bleonard@politico.com, Ruth Reader at rreader@politico.com, Carmen Paun at cpaun@politico.com or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@politico.com. Send tips securely through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram or WhatsApp. Today on our Pulse Check podcast, host Katherine Ellen Foley talks with Ruth Reader, who explains how mental health apps, telehealth services and hospital websites capture users' detailed personal information to use for marketing and advertising without their knowledge and how the FTC and HHS plan to crack down on the practice to protect consumers' health data. Listen to today’s Pulse Check podcast WORLD VIEW Obrador has called anti-drug policies in the U.S. a failure. | Marco Ugarte/AP Photo Mexico will create a presidential commission to fight the trafficking of fentanyl, and the U.S. will crack down on gun dealers in the states that arm Mexican drug cartels. That was the crux of a deal U.S. and Mexican officials reached late last week after they met in Washington. It’s unlikely to calm the furor on Capitol Hill over the synthetic opioid that caused more than 70,000 fatal overdoses in the U.S. in 2021, according to the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures. Why it matters: Some GOP lawmakers have proposed designating Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and using military force to destroy clandestine labs south of the border. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexio has rebuked them, saying U.S. demand is responsible for the fentanyl problem. What’s next: Mexico’s presidential commission will try to improve coordination among its federal agencies to go after criminals who make and sell fentanyl. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice will deploy the new authorities Congress gave it in last year’s Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to target southbound firearm flows and work with Mexican counterparts to increase firearms tracing to help choke off gun sources. The two countries also plan to develop a public information campaign that will run in the U.S. and Mexico about the dangers of fentanyl. And both sides plan public outreach events across the U.S.–Mexico border to bring greater attention to enforcement activities against weapons trafficking.   LISTEN TO POLITICO'S ENERGY PODCAST: Check out our daily five-minute brief on the latest energy and environmental politics and policy news. Don't miss out on the must-know stories, candid insights, and analysis from POLITICO's energy team. Listen today.     TECH MAZE Elderly people took to telehealth during the pandemic. | Getty Images It’s too soon to judge telehealth’s performance, Congress’ Medicare advisory panel says in a new report on the pandemic-driven expansion of virtual care. Rules enacted soon after Covid arrived permitting more Medicare patients to use telehealth boosted access to care at a time when many people were afraid to see their doctors in person. But the panel said the available data doesn’t show that telehealth improved the quality of care or reduced costs. Medicare doesn’t have data on lab results or patient-reported outcomes, and Covid surges confounded the results. Why it matters: The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission suggested that Congress hold off on deciding whether to make the pandemic rules permanent. Congress extended them through 2024 in last year’s government spending bill. “Drawing conclusions strongly about ‘telehealth is good’ or ‘telehealth is bad’ is really hard to do from this,” said Commission Chair Michael Chernew, a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School. What’s next: The commission will send its final report on telehealth to Congress in June.   Follow us on Twitter Ben Leonard @_BenLeonard_ Ruth Reader @RuthReader Carmen Paun @carmenpaun Erin Schumaker @erinlschumaker   Follow us

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