Cancer treatment made to measure
The biotech company Barron Biomedical is working on cancer therapy tailored to the patient’s individual needs
Health and a long life are often traced back to “good genes”. Not only personal lifestyle, but also genetic factors are viewed as main causes for diseases such as cancer. This suggests that the effectiveness of medication also depends on the patient’s genome. The mission of Berlin-based founder Carlos Barron is to identify the right medication for cancer treatment while avoiding ineffective and burdensome approaches. Founded in 2010, his company Barron Biomedical and its four employees seek to contribute to “personalised medicine”. Barron Medical opened a laboratory in the Technology Park Adlershof in June.
Barron studied medicine in Lima and wrote his dissertation on molecular biology at the University of Konstanz. His next stops included the Max-Planck-Institute for Biochemistry in Munich as well as the universities of Modena and Milan. Barron had worked in cancer research for pharmaceutical companies since, before he established a biobank for a biotech company in Berlin. Biobanks consist of biopsies and other patient data. They serve to discover points of application for medication (targets) and of biological features which point to disease-relevant processes (biomarker). “The search for targets and biomarkers often fails due to the quality of the biopsies. For this reason, we developed a method to conduct biopsies in a controlled environment,” the molecular biologist explains. There is a high demand for effective cancer treatment. Almost half the German population experiences cancer, it accounts for deaths of one out of four men, and one out of five women.
“The reason treatments are not successful is mainly due to the genetic variation of tumors and the human organism,” says Barron. The tumors in certain patients were resistant to medication. Moreover, some patients can’t adequately process the pharmaceutical substances due to genetic diversity. Expensive medication just fizzles out without effect, patients suffer from severe side effects, and there is a risk for the window of opportunity closing for effective therapy alternatives.
Barron is convinced that the success rate of therapies can be improved: “We have a strategy for identifying individually effective medication.” The foundation is a method of gathering good tumor biopsies and patient samples and to analyse them using DNA sequencing and bioinformatics. Ineffective drugs can be ruled out, while the promising ones can be tested in tumor cell cultures in order to identify the most effective. This can only work in close cooperation with doctors and clinics, contacts to which Barron has established. The researcher, who likes developing historical tours of Berlin as a hobby, tells us that he is looking forward to the scientific and technological environment in Adlershof.
By Paul Janositz for Adlershof Journal