Mind the gap: Parker Institute’s Knudsen points to urgent need to fix translation

Knudsen says Parker Institute’s model is replicable, and diagnostics is a good place to start

Karen Knudsen, CEO of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, believes the central problem in cancer drug development is not discovery, but a broken “translational middle.”

In a wide-ranging interview on The BioCentury Show with BioCentury Washington Editor Steve Usdin, Knudsen discussed the Parker Institute’s focus on accelerating the path from scientific breakthrough to medical impact.

As it approaches its tenth anniversary, the institute has deployed about $400 million, catalyzing roughly $4 billion in follow-on investment across 17 companies.

The Parker Institute model, which aims to create a self-contained innovation ecosystem, is replicable, Knudsen said. She pointed to the opportunity to build a similar entity focused on advancing cancer diagnostics.

Knudsen predicted that therapeutic cancer vaccines designed to prevent recurrence, coupled with diagnostics that identify cancers earlier and targeted therapies that induce remissions, are poised to become a “core pillar” of cancer treatment.

The discussion also touched on public policy, from the need to increase the “totally unacceptable” low enrollment of U.S. cancer patients in clinical trials to the importance of creating and maintaining a stable regulatory environment.