In the beginning it’s always just an idea in a nerd’s head – vaccinations, antibiotics, all the modern medicine that saves the lives of millions of people today. And whenever it is first uttered, it sounds crazy, immature, risky, or impossible. But doubters and critics never know whether this one might prevail and be the next “game changer”. This is also the case with the thought that has been going through Alex Meissner’s head for years and that could achieve nothing less than defeating cancer. Any form of cancer. Provided that the idea works as the director of the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin imagines.
Investors in the USA are prepared to bet $190 million on Meissner’s fantasy, or rather on the company Harbinger Health, co-founded by the gene and stem cell researcher. A sum that is rarely made available to biotech companies.
Tumor tissue behaves very similarly to placental tissue.
Alexander Meissner, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin-Dahlem