Gerry Palmers Science 07.14.2022 01:Jul AM EDT

Amazon is Developing Vaccines for Breast, Skin Cancers

Amazon has been developing cancer vaccines in collaboration with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle.

These vaccines are being developed to shield people from such cancers as breast cancer and certain types of skin cancer, such as melanoma.

Amazon Confirms Development of Cancer Vaccines

Amazon has confirmed the development, saying in an email to Business Insider that the company is "contributing scientific and machine learning expertise to a partnership with Fred Hutch to explore the development of a personalized treatment for certain forms of cancer." In the email, the spokesperson further said that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center the green light for the first phase of clinical trials, but noted it remained unclear if this will be successful.

The study was first posted October last year, and with the initiative starting on June 9. Target completion is scheduled on November 1, 2023.

The initiative, Amazon added, "will be a long, multi-year process-should it progress," and stated that it is open to partnering with other health care organizations in health care and life sciences.

The first trial of the cancer vaccine analyzes the safety of the "personalized neo-antigen peptide vaccine in treating patients with stage IIIC-IV melanoma or hormone receptor positive Her2 negative breast cancer that has spread to other places in the body (metastatic) or does not respond to treatment (refractory)." This vaccine is a product that brings together multiple patient specific neo-antigens.

The tial's summary also emphasized: "Given personalized neo-antigen peptide vaccine together with Th1 polarizing adjuvant poly ICLC may induce a polyclonal, poly-epitope, cytolytic T cell immunity against the patient's tumor."

Trial Participants Sought for First Trials of Cancer Vaccine

Amazon and Fred Hutchinson are currently seeking to sign up 20 participants over the age of 18 for the first phase of the, trial, as stated in a filing on clinicaltrials.gov, which is a clinical trial database overseen by the National Library of Medicine. The trial attempts to develop "personalized vaccines" that can treat breast cancer and melanoma, a form of skin cancer.

The leading ecommerce destination has previously ventured in healthcare. In June last year, Amazon began its Amazon Care that provides its Seattle-based employees medical assistance to their homes, such as virtual video chats with doctors, having medicine delivered to homes or preferred pharmacies, and a care chat via messenger.

This vaccine being developed is said to be a product of Amazon's internal research lab, called Grand Challenge. Te company's cancer team has since progressed so much that it has been repositioned from the Grand Challenge unit to work under the supervision of VP of devices Robert Williams, the Business Insider report also claimed.

This initiative is seen to expand the ecommerce giant into brand-new territory, cancer treatment. If it succeeds in this venture, Amazon is set to gain massive financial returns and exceptional impact on the healthcare sector.