In what context was Eurofins founded and what is your vision going forward?
Dr. Martin: Initially our focus was to prove the authenticity of beverages (e.g., wine) and relatively quickly we realized the power of testing as the best instrument that mankind has found to minimize risk and make sure products are safe. As such, pharmaceuticals came as a natural step in our evolution, expanding in 2014 into clinical diagnostics.
Although we started with a relatively small footprint, we have developed a global network of laboratories and we invest most of our yearly profits to increase our R&D capabilities. Looking to the future, one aim is to be able to provide holistic personalized medicine to treat specific types of cancer, and we remain optimistic in this sense because we have seen throughout Covid-19 the incredible potential of science in vaccines, many of which were adapted in real time as the strains were evolving. We think about how evolving science could be applied to diseases such as cancer, there is real potential to provide treatments that are specific to a singular patient given that cancer tends to be such an ‘individual’ disease.
When did genomics and personalized medicine become so popular and why are now experiencing so much traction across the industry?
Dr. Oostdyk: Personalized medicine has been an evolving field and as we move towards understanding more about the genetic makeups of tumors and what markers are occurring in the human body, we have a greater ability to develop clinical assays to track them. The different techniques that can be used for testing have evolved and become more common too; as a result, we are now able to launch effective companion diagnostics.
Dr. Martin: The first biotech boom happened back in the 2000's when significant scientific tools became available - but there were no real applications for them. However, from 2015 we have seen a consistent inflection point and paradigm shift in the life sciences market.
How do you manage to test in advance when it comes to personalized genetic medicine?
Dr. Oostdyk: The ability to be much more specific has advanced in the last years, and we are developing biomarkers that are clinically significant for particular diseases. For example, in cancer treatment we can look at a range of genetic markers using next generation sequencing to predict what combination of therapies may be more effective in an individual patient.
Dr. Martin: For example, in the case of rare diseases, after mass genetic screening, we can identify the expressed protein that is being carried by certain patients and utilize it in the development of a possible cure. As for cancer, once we know the genetic pattern of a tumor, we can conduct DNA blood tests that will detect its recurrence.
In which way could gene therapies impact the treatment of cancer and other diseases in the long run?
Dr. Martin: Although therapies for cancer are not yet an across-the-board solution, some progress is being made. One day, clinical next generation sequencing may help specify targeted personalized onco-vaccines that can be produced cost-effectively in a network of local CDMO and tested by Biopharma product testing laboratories. We are building the platforms to do this in 5-10 years.
Monitoring disease recurrence requires continuous testing over time. As an analogy, the TruGraf® test we developed supports transplant patients by monitoring the evolution of their grafts. We developed several expression markers that enable us to warn the doctors if a patient's transplant is beginning to be rejected even though the patient is not yet showing any clinical signs of it happening.
We have a global network of laboratories that can conduct these types of tests very quickly. We see a bright future for these types of tests as they become more and more personalized into the future. More applications will likely emerge in five to ten years' time.
Dr. Oostdyk: Gene therapies are clearly changing the way many diseases are treated and even cured. But these therapies are highly complex, and require highly sophisticated manufacturing and laboratory techniques and capabilities to produce and ensure the highest quality. We have built a global network of highly equipped facilities and highly experienced scientists to support our clients in developing these products. One of the gratifying aspects of the contract services business is that we support a myriad of sponsors developing countless therapies, thus multiplying our impact in this exciting field.
How did the pandemic change the general perception of the public on the pharma industry?
Dr. Oostdyk: From the U.S. perspective, the pandemic brought a positive uptake in the perception of our industry, as well as a greater appreciation of the science behind what we do.
It is amazing, for example, how today the average individual knows about the use of mRNA in vaccines.
It is an interesting dynamic the way in which our industry has been viewed over the years, considering the extent to which modern therapeutics have impacted quality of life.
What are the main objectives that you would like to achieve in the coming two to three years?
Dr. Martin: Our core goal is to make the power of testing more broadly available, more cost effective and faster. Contributing to the incoming revolution in personalized medicine by making technologies that can help as many patients as possible is also an important point on our to-do list. We would also like to increase our portfolio in underserved markets such as Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. The globalization of knowledge makes science move incredibly fast and we are here to provide the resulting new testing developments worldwide and support global health and safety.
