By  Megan Redshaw

A new filing with the National Institutes of Health reveals Amazon is collaborating with Fred Hutchinson to develop a vaccine for skin cancer and certain breast cancers, as it sets its sights on a piece of a multi-billion-dollar industry.

According to a filing with the National Institutes of Health, Fred Hutch is testing a “personalized” vaccine for patients with late-stage melanoma skin cancer and certain breast cancers that have metastasized or are unresponsive to other treatments.

The Fred Hutchinson Center based in Seattle sponsors and leads the study, while Amazon, a partner of the World Economic Forum, is listed as its sole collaborator.

Amazon and Fred Hutch are looking to recruit 20 participants over the age of 18 for the early stage, or phase 1 trial, with the goal of developing “personalized vaccines” that can treat breast cancer and melanoma, CNBC reported.

The vaccine is personalized with a combination of each patient’s own tumor antigens, with the goal of inducing T cell activity against the tumors expressing those antigens.

The trial involves a 25-week regimen of the vaccines — absent any complications — and offers follow-ups over the subsequent 12 months.

​​The study was first posted on ClinicalTrials.gov in October 2021 and began on June 9. The clinical trial is expected to be completed by Nov. 1, 2023.

According to Allied Analytics LLP, the cancer vaccine global market was valued at $4.18 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach $7.30 billion by 2027.

Amazon is providing “scientific and machine learning expertise” to the latest Fred Hutch endeavor, a company spokesperson told The Hill. The vaccine is in the early stages, and “it’s unclear whether it will be successful.”

The project will take several years to complete. “Should it progress, we would be open to working with other organizations in health care and life sciences that might also be interested in similar efforts,” the spokesperson said.

A representative of Fred Hutch confirmed the collaboration with Amazon and said in an emailed statement:

“Fred Hutch is working with Amazon to explore the development of a personalized treatment for certain forms of cancer. Fred Hutch recently received permission from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to proceed with a Phase I clinical trial, which is now underway. It’s very early in a long, multi-year process, and success is by no means guaranteed. The program is an important example of how Fred Hutch works with collaborators to develop new therapies.”

Fred Hutch previously collaborated with Merck to develop its controversial human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and COVID-19 drug, molnupiravir (MOV).

As The Defender reported in March, Attorneys from Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., chairman of Children’s Health Defense, filed their 14th lawsuit against Merck alleging the drugmaker knowingly concealed adverse events associated with its Gardasil HPV vaccine.

“I question the integrity of a vaccine involving the Fred Hutch group after litigating devastating injuries related to the Gardasil vaccine, which they helped pioneer,” attorney Michael Baum told The Defender in an email.

“Gardasil was rushed through approval without proper safety oversight and shoddy clinical trials, according to the evidence and allegations my firm is litigating against Merck right now.”

[…]

Via https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/amazon-fred-hutchinson-skin-breast-cancer-vaccine/