Corning products help transform cancer drug research
The company’s work with precision medicine innovators contributes to improved personalized treatments.
As cancer treatments have progressed rapidly over the last century, doctors continue to grapple with a major challenge: every patient responds differently to drug therapies.
“In traditional medicine, therapies are designed to treat large groups of people with the same disease. But not everyone responds to medicine the same way. One treatment may be effective for one person, but not for another,” said Abraham, Director, New Product Strategy, Corning Life Sciences. “When a patient becomes ill, a medical provider administers a variety of drugs to the best of their knowledge and experience without the certainty that the treatment will be the right match.”
But major medical advancements over the last two decades—enabled in part by Corning Life Sciences products—have transformed how cancers can be assessed and studied, adding more precision than ever. Now, scientists can grow three-dimensional models from a patient’s tumor cells to test individual drugs on the specimen and determine the best treatment course. This innovative process, called precision medicine, provides an opportunity for targeted therapies that can advance cancer treatment.
Corning has been a critical innovator in the life sciences space since 1908. From the development of Penicillin and the polio vaccine to present-day progress with precision medicine, Corning products have been at the side of experts who have pushed medical advancements.
Precision medicine allows scientists to test out a range of drugs on a patient’s actual tumor cells, offering a deeper understanding of how a person’s specific genetics will interact with treatments. To do so, researchers grow and run drug assessments on tumor organoids, miniaturized 3D tissue structures that mimic the form and function of the diseased organ(s).
“Instead of running through a gamut of drugs, you can use the results from your drug testing as a predictive model that helps narrow in on a very targeted drug therapy. That's why it's called ‘precision medicine,’” said Abraham.
To grow these organoids and then assess them, researchers need specialized growth environments and testing vessels. That’s where Corning steps in.
“Corning components are so critical in this process,” said Linkous, Research Associate Professor and Scientific Center Manager at the National Cancer Institute’s Center for Cancer Systems Biology at Vanderbilt University. “I'm not exaggerating when I say we use these products at every step of the protocol.”
Linkous uses the Corning® Matrigel® Matrix, a natural hydrogel made up of proteins and other molecules essential for cell development, to grow organoids.
After that, she transfers the organoids into a Corning microplate, which features multiple different wells that are used as tiny test tubes on one plate. Then the drug testing can begin.
“If you can recreate a tumor in a dish that mirrors the genetic profile of a specific cancer, you can use this 3D model to test various therapeutic drugs. By doing so, you learn which drug works well for this patient's cancer genotype,” said Abraham.
As the field of precision medicine continues to grow in importance, Corning’s products are at the forefront, serving as critical tools for the development of organoids. In 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration began implementing the FDA Modernization Act 2.0, which authorized the use of cell-based drug testing as an alternative to animal testing.
Instead of waiting months for tests on animals, researchers can grow tumor cell organoids within a few weeks and begin testing.
Getting drug test results in a more predictive and timely manner could help improve the success rate of clinical trials, which fail 90% of the time. With better success rates for clinical testing, doctors can work toward improved patient outcomes.
“These patients are truly benefitting from what Corning is doing,” said Linkous. “All of the people who work for Corning Life Sciences are making such an impact in this field.”
This is the goal of Corning Life Sciences: supporting customers’ work while benefiting society.
“Our business model works best when our customers are successful in their scientific endeavors. Thus, we work to stay very close to a customer’s changing needs,” Abraham said. “For over a hundred years, we’ve been successful at translating customer requirements into innovative products, and we plan to do so going forward.”