From pharmaceuticals, with the possibility of defeating widespread pathologies, to food, with the opportunity to solve the problem of feeding 7 billion people, passing through industry and the development of virtuous cycles that can reduce pollution. This is the age of biotechnology and it also confirms it Francesco Di Marco, managing director for Italy of Amgen, the global pharmaceutical biotech giant, which has a turnover of more than 20 billion dollars, is active in over 100 countries with about 18 employees and achieved five billion in revenues in the first quarter of 2016 alone, with a capitalization value on the Nasdaq of 116 billion dollars.
“We are the Google of pharmaceuticals”, says Di Marco, explaining how much the "technological explosion" of these years will change our lives also from a medical point of view: "Amgen will be able to respond to the unsatisfied clinical needs of widespread diseases such as familial hypercholesterolemia, multiple myeloma, PH- acute lymphoblastic leukemia or melanoma”.
But what is a biopharmaceutical? “The biotechnological drug – explains di Marco – is biological in the sense that it is built with the same bricks with which our organism is built and interacts very specifically with what causes disease. It is usually built - says the number one of the group active in Italy since 1992 - usually to do a single 'job', while the chemical drug can have the tendency to act on several levels, and therefore also have more important secondary effects. The biotechnological drug has a more specific efficacy”.
The typical example is that ofOsteoporosis, for which an antibody has been discovered which, through an injection every 6 months, has the same effects as the chemical product, which however poisons the bones: "Biological treatment is more precise as it replicates a natural mechanism". The same goes for melanoma, treated with a drug (T-Vec) which exploits the potential of a virus, that of herpes rendered inactive, to stimulate an immune response against neoplastic cells.
The battle against cancer is still in its infancy, as far as biotech is concerned, but “in the future it can be better prevented, also creating ad personam drugs. In any case, it is certain that the new technologies will allow us to survive longer, living with very serious illnesses that will go from acute to chronic: that is, we still don't know if we will be able to defeat them, but we will certainly live longer and better, which is perhaps even more important than living longer,” says Di Marco.
Before the cancer should instead be stemmed thehypercholesterolemia: every year in Italy 320.000 people die of cardiovascular diseases, which are still the leading cause of death. Amgen has developed a drug, the Repatha, which is about to land in Italy and which treats hypercholesterolemia through its own antibody, a pathology that often involves the whole family as it derives from a genetic defect. "How many lives this drug will save we cannot say, but in the meantime it is certain that it lowers cholesterol levels", claims the number one of Amgen in Italy. "In the meantime, it is a question of changing the paradigms of care, improving the lives of patients".
Still on the subject of cardiovascular diseases there is the interesting thing case of Iceland: it is only a few weeks ago that the researchers of DeCode Genetics, an Icelandic company acquired a few years ago by Amgen, have managed to identify the mutation of a gene that reduces the levels of non-HDL cholesterol that appears to protect against inflammation at the level of atherosclerotic plaques. "It is a discovery that could usher in a new era of therapies for the prevention of heart attacks," reveals Di Marco.
But how did this biotech revolution come about and where are we in Italy? "Biotech is growing, especially in basic research, thanks to a very positive humus between investments, startups, etc.", says the managing director for Italy of a group that invests globally every year over 4 billion dollars in research and development, i.e. 20% of its turnover: a very high percentage even among the biotech companies themselves, which make innovation their strength. “Italy, which is also the third European country and among the top 7 in the world in terms of pharmaceutical potential, is still somewhat stuck on biotech: old-fashioned pharmaceuticals continue to prevail, the chemical one, in which we are second in Europe but we are not catching up with new technologies”. Even Italy represents a unique case in Europe: patients are growing and therefore industrial success, but this does not translate into financial success. "The problem? Lack of planning by the State and the Regions”.
