The European Medicines Agency this week predicted a \u201crevolution in science and medicine\u201d could come from the use of mRNA vaccines, with trials expanding into the treatment of cancer or heart disease.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The prediction came as Emer Cooke, the Irishwoman who heads up the EMA, called on parents who may have questions about childhood vaccines to seek out trusted fact-based sources of information for answers.<\/p>\n
The mRNA vaccines made global headlines when those developed by Pfizer and Moderna were the turning point in the fight against covid-19. That development followed years of little-known research which is now being boosted by millions of dollars or euros from investment funding.<\/p>\n
Marco Cavaleri is the head of public health threats at the EMA and sees exciting potential in recent trials of mRNA in tackling other diseases.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest area that we are seeing really growing in numbers of candidates tested in clinical trials, is cancer. So the concept of personalised treatment of cancer is really high on the innovation agenda,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
“And it\u2019s not just cancer, it\u2019s also cardiovascular disease, it\u2019s also autoimmune diseases so really we could see a revolution in science and in medicine with this technology.”<\/p>\n
The idea behind personalised medicine is each patient gets a variation of the treatment based on the characteristics of their cancer or other illness.<\/p>\n
Mr Cavaleri pointed to developments just this month in potential treatment for melanoma skin cancer when speaking to reporters at the EMA headquarters in Amsterdam.<\/p>\n
Trials showed a personalised mRNA vaccine cut the chance of skin cancer returning or the patient dying by 42% when used with an immunotherapy medicine, the vaccine manufacturers MSD and Moderna said.<\/p>\n
Mr Cavaleri described these findings as \u201ca potential breakthrough for the future\u201d.<\/p>\n
He acknowledged it was early days, adding: “So it can happen also that we will see some failures but the road is paved towards exploring more in depth the ability of this technology for delivering products in a personalised way that would treat cancer.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
The mRNA technology could also be used, he added, in treatment with CAR-T therapy for blood cancers.<\/p>\n
Ms Cooke also stressed \u201cvery impressive\u201d innovations in the vaccine world but acknowledged the growing hesitancy around vaccines since the pandemic.<\/p>\n
She took up the role of executive director in 2020, becoming the first woman to do so in the EMA\u2019s quarter-century history, and she led the EU rollout of covid-19 vaccines.<\/p>\n
Appointed initially for five years, her position was extended last year until her planned retirement next year.<\/p>\n
She spoke of how, when her own now-adult children were young, she had them vaccinated against illnesses, including her daughter getting the HPV vaccine.<\/p>\n
This offers protection against cervical cancer. Global evidence now is this vaccine is set to eliminate deaths from this devastating cancer.<\/p>\n
\u201cVaccines are one of the most effective public health interventions that have ever been developed. They have saved lives and they continue to save lives,\u201d Ms Cooke said.<\/p>\n
In the area of childhood vaccines, she spoke of \u201csome challenges\u201d now to the uptake of measles vaccines.<\/p>\n
In Ireland last year, the MMR vaccine uptake among children aged 24 months was only 86.3%. This is below the target of 95% needed to prevent outbreaks.<\/p>\n
Ms Cooke told the Irish Examiner she would advise parents to ask questions if they are unsure about vaccination.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would advise you to go to trusted sources of information such as the European Medicines Agency. We really put a lot of effort into putting out fact-based information,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe work with pediatricians, communications specialists. We try to ensure that the information we provide is unbiased, based on the science, independent and we try to put it in a way that\u2019s easily understandable as well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She said the EMA works with patient groups to make sure information addresses people\u2019s everyday concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut honestly, I think the scientific figures showing the lives saved by vaccines are very impressive and I think people have just forgotten,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
“And I\u2019m just afraid people haven\u2019t seen the diseases because vaccination has been so successful and that they can\u2019t imagine a world where these diseases will come back. That\u2019s one of the frightening things.”<\/p>\n
Before the measles vaccine was introduced in 1963 around the world, major epidemics broke out regularly, causing an estimated 2.6 million deaths every year, the World Health Organisation said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been huge advances and we want that to continue, and that\u2019s part of the message that I would like to share,” Ms Cooke said.<\/p>\n
She cautioned: \u201cWe now have children dying of diseases like measles or diphtheria, and we know the vaccines can provide protection. I think this is a challenge we really have to take on.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Speaking about choices, she said: \u201cI don\u2019t believe any parent sets out to do harm to their child by avoiding a vaccine. That\u2019s not the reason, I think it\u2019s all about getting the message right.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That messaging by the EMA about vaccines and medicines is becoming more visible globally as the American approach changes.<\/p>\n
In just one example last month President Donald Trump proposed \u2014 without sharing any evidence for this \u2014 that vaccine makers split some childhood shots into five separate doses, which he believes will result in a reduction in autism rates, an idea repeatedly debunked by scientists.<\/p>\n
Ms Cooke said the EMA worked very closely with the US FDA (Food and Drug Administration).<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the challenges for us is how we address sentiments that maybe are coming from the US system and how we ensure that we can provide the right information to counter anything that is either wrong or mis-informed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is something that we really try to do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A page on the EMA website titled \u201cVaccines: concerns, questions and false claims\u201d answers common questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe either try to come out with something publicly or we develop lines to take for our network so [the national health authorities] have the fact-based information to counter some of the challenging assertions that may be coming from the US,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The vaccine seminar also heard from Heidi Larson, professor of anthropology, risk and decision science at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.<\/p>\n
She described how multiple studies show vaccine hesitancy is growing, and in 2022 she was part of the latest analysis of the state of vaccine confidence in Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t understand what is behind it, we are never going to get it right in terms of how we engage and how we approach [people who are hesitant],\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Part of this is understanding the influence of family, friends, religion and other non-medical sources of information, she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is again and again repeated that healthcare professionals are the most trusted. But who else are people trusting?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She also raised concerns about the role of America now in the health community, using an image of Robert F Kennedy Jnr, the US secretary of health.<\/p>\n
She described the US as a \u201chuge propagator\u201d of global misinformation around vaccines.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really had a negative impact, and this was before the current administration, which has made things even more complicated in terms of policies coming out that totally contradict Europe and other countries; it confuses the public,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She said how, during the pandemic campaigns, questioning vaccines merged with other protest groups, adding: “They had the shared theme of against government control or freedom, liberty.”<\/p>\n
This has made it more challenging to discuss vaccine hesitancy, as people say their issue is not with any particular jab but about liberty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The European Medicines Agency this week predicted a \u201crevolution in science and medicine\u201d could come from the use…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":671631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[160,249575,103,4892,61,60],"class_list":["post-671630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-covid-19","tag-european-union-eu","tag-health","tag-health-news","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/671631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}