In 2020, mankind will not only fight against novel coronavirus, but also diseases closely related to human health. Recently, the authoritative academic journal Nature Medicine published a series of articles reviewing the remarkable medical progress in 2020, and it is also a noteworthy investment opportunity for us in 2021:

1）Cancer early screening: the target population of early screening market is much larger than that of cancer testing market.

The market space of cancer early screening is very large, such as according to the scale of cancer market: cancer early screening > recurrence monitoring > cancer treatment choice. There are 18.1 million new cancer data worldwide each year in 2018, and there is also a very large stock of patients.The target population of cancer early screening is the exact diagnosis of cancer patients + cancer recurrence patients + a large "seemingly healthy" population, so the market space of cancer early screening is much larger than the cancer detection market, I am afraid it is difficult to imagine.

The Johns Hopkins team screened more than 10000 women with no history of cancer and tested their blood samples for tumor DNA and cancer protein markers, and PET-CT scans confirmed positive results.At present, 26 different types of cancers have been found in the world, there is no standard screening method, and there is great potential in the future.

2）KRAS inhibitor: KRASIs the most frequently mutated oncogene.

KRAS is the most frequently mutated oncogene in cancer and encodes an important signal protein in the tumor.In 1/3 of cancers, it is activated by KRAS. According to statistics, KRAS gene mutations occur in 90% of pancreatic cancers, 30-40% of colon cancers and 15-20% of lung cancers (non-small cell lung cancer).

In December 2020, Amgen Inc announced that he had submitted an application for listing of KRAS inhibitor sotorasib to FDA, and FDA in the United States had awarded sotorasib breakthrough therapy for the treatment of locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with KRAS mutation.

3）CAR-T therapy: one of the major breakthroughs in cancer treatment in recent years

CAR-T therapy is one of the major breakthroughs in the field of cancer treatment in recent years. T cells expressing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) have achieved excellent efficacy in the treatment of hematological cancer.

The patient's T cells were extracted and genetically modified, and then the modified T cells were implanted into the patient's body to kill tumor cells directly.

There are currently two CAR-T models on the market around the world, Novartis's Kymriah and Gilead's Yescarta, both of which were approved in the second half of 2017. There is no CAR-T on the market in China. At present, Legend Biotech Corp and Yao Ming Junuo are the ones with rapid clinical progress.

4) icodec insulin: only need to be injected once a week, greatly simplifying the burden on both doctors and patients

In the past, patients with diabetes were injected at least once a day, perhaps 2-4 times, and may need to be combined with oral drugs, extremely complex blood sugar management.

The insulin analogue icodec, developed by Novo-Nordisk A/S, showed in the results of phase 2 clinical trials released in September this year that it is a long-acting basic insulin analogue with a half-life of 196hrs. After being injected into the human body, Icodec insulin binds closely but reversibly to albumin.This result can reduce hypoglycemia continuously, slowly and steadily over a week. The weekly dose of insulin injected with Icodec is equivalent to that of insulin glargine injected once a day (100U).

5) Gene therapy: letIndividualized customization of Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease is associated with the loss of neurons in specific areas of the brain, leading to dopamine deficiency. So one strategy that scientists have been trying for a long time is to use stem cells to regenerate dopaminergic neurons.

In February, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School reprogrammed the cells of a Parkinson's patient into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) in vitro through gene editing therapy, and differentiated these cells into dopaminergic progenitor cells. Without immunosuppressants, these cells were implanted into the patient's left and right sides of the brain.After 18-24 months of implantation, the symptoms of Parkinson's disease improved and there was no adverse reaction.。

The researchers believe that this strategy can provide patients withIndividual therapy of autologous cells in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. The 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to CRISPR-CAS9 Gene Editing Technology, which also led to the popularity of American Gene Editing companies:

Summary

Biomedical advances such as cancer early screening, KRAS inhibitors, tumor immunity and long-acting insulin will bring reasonable returns to these innovative enterprises in the near future.