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MANIFEST: The Francis Crick Institute launches a new project aimed at understanding immunotherapy responses and side effects in cancer treatments

on Friday, 18 October 2024.

This month has seen the launch of a £9 million partnership led by The Francis Crick Institute which aims to understand patient responses to immunotherapy, enabling the development of safer and more effective treatments.

MANIFEST stands for 'Multiomic ANalysis of Immunotherapy Features Evidencing Success and Toxicity' and has been established to consider the barriers to successful immunotherapy.  Immunotherapy is a form of cancer treatment which stimulates a patient's immune system to fight cancer.  Doctors consider the treatment to be promising - it offers the possibility of long-term protection against cancer cells and fewer side effects for patients in comparison to traditional cancer treatments.  MANIFEST aims to verify which biomarkers are present prior to the start of immunotherapy and then devise tests to monitor these during the patient's treatment. A better understanding of biomarkers will allow doctors to tailor therapies to an individual patient's biochemistry, maximising the potential for successful treatment and minimising the side effects experienced by patients.

The MANIFEST consortium is made up of six NHS trusts, 14 leading academic institutions and around 19 industry partners and collaborators from across the biotech and pharma sectors.  This collaboration will not only bring together valuable experience and resources, but also gives a platform to apply new technologies - MANIFEST consortium member IMU Biosciences will be contributing their AI-driven immune profiling platform which identifies the immune cells present in a bloodstream and uses machine learning to predict whether an individual variation will influence responses to treatment.  As we explored at the PING 2024 conference earlier this year, there are numerous ways in which AI can bring value to those working in Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences, with use cases across the sector from drug discovery to supply chain management.  We are excited to see that this project is harnessing the opportunities presented by AI. 

The project will initially involve the testing of 3,000 patients who have undergone their treatment and 3,000 patients who are beginning treatment for breast, bladder, kidney and skin cancer, with further plans for expansion.  The consortium will collect data from the patients over 4 years and this data will be used to, for example, profile immune cells and analyse cancerous tumours, including their location in relation to immune cells.  The large number of patients involved and the volume of data that will be collected means that the project will operate at a large scale, creating an excellent platform to validate findings and explore immunotherapy capabilities.

VWV is proud to have a close relationship with the Crick and looks forward to hearing about the results of this innovative project, hoping it will encourage further investment and research in personalised medicines.


If you would like to discuss this article or would like to discuss how we might be able to assist you, please contact Harry Jennings in our Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences team on 077895 33122, or complete the form below.  With thanks to Emily Dyer, a trainee solicitor in the VWV Pharma and Life Sciences team.

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