Effective vaccines for non-communicable diseases - A pipe dream?

Abstract

Effective vaccines for non-communicable diseases - A pipe dream? Markus Mandler, Founder and CEO of Tridem Bioscience, explains how the company’s cutting-edge vaccine platform is revolutionising treatment approaches and vaccines for non-communicable diseases (NCDs). 2023Vaccines are one of the best health investments money can buy. One has only to look at how transformative vaccines were during the COVID-19 pandemic to appreciate how world- changing they can be. Currently, vaccines’ full benefits are only truly realised when targeting pathogens, which are innately immunogenic due to their foreign nature. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), otherwise known as chronic diseases, usually lack immunogenic targets. Treating NCDs with vaccines relies instead on targeting self-antigens, which are generally well tolerated by the immune system. The potential global health benefits would be staggering if efficacious vaccines could be developed for NCDs, which cause a whopping 76% of deaths globally and over 60% of all disability- adjusted life-years (DALYs).