Bahija Jallal on the biotech revolution in cancer therapies

The Life Scientific

BBC

Technology, Personal Journals, Society & Culture, Science

4.6 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 5 September 2023

⏱️ 28 minutes

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Summary

Some of the most complex medicines available today are made from living cells or organisms - these treatments are called biopharmaceuticals and in this episode of The Life Scientific Dr Bahija Jallal, CEO of Immunocore, shares her story of leaving her home in Casablanca, Morocco to become a world leader in developing biopharmaceutical cancer treatments. She tells Professor Jim Al-Khalili that she has always found herself ahead of the curve. When she began in oncology, the study of cancer, the common treatment was chemotherapy which attacked all the cells in an affected area. Her first studies into cancer treatments were looking at how certain therapies could focus in on the cancerous cells and move away from what she describes as the 'sledgehammer' of traditional chemotherapy. It was an early step in what became known as targeted cancer therapies, and it set Bahjia on course for a career dedicated to developing innovative drugs to improve cancer patients' lives. Through a deep understanding of the science and a resolute commitment to putting treatments in the hands of people who need them, she has produced astonishing results. Bahija has brought drugs to market faster than many believed was possible, and she has managed it by being an inspirational leader and encouraging her teams to think differently. How has she done it? Part of the secret, she says, is diversity of thought. Presented by Professor Jim Al-Khalili Produced by Tom Bonnett

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts
0:04.6	Hello and welcome to the podcast edition of the Life Scientific.
0:08.0	I'm Jim Alkalili and this is the show where I get to talk with some of the world's
0:11.6	leading scientists and you get to find out what drives them, so sit back, get comfortable
0:16.8	and enjoy the episode. Hello, today we're talking about our immune systems, our barriers
0:23.2	against illness that pull up the drawbridge to infections. We generally seem to have a
0:28.1	low expectation of our immune system in the same way that we expect bad weather or that
0:33.2	our train will be running late again. We might find as I'm saying, I'm feeling really
0:38.0	run down, I think I'm going to be ill. Maybe we should be a bit more respectful.
0:42.7	Our immune systems are wonderful things but there are times when they can use a little more help
0:47.9	and I don't just mean with smoothies or chicken soup. New treatments are now able to change the
0:53.6	behaviour of our immune system, for example to help it find cancerous cells that would otherwise
0:59.1	go undetected. These treatments aren't traditional pharmaceuticals which are often made from synthetic
1:05.0	chemicals but bio pharmaceuticals made from living organisms like bacteria or enzymes.
1:11.9	My guest today is a pioneer in such biotech therapies. Behija Jalal grew up in Casablanca
1:18.2	and pushed back against the expectations of Moroccan society at the time to follow her dream
1:23.4	and become a scientist. Today she's a role model in business who also follows the best science
1:30.0	and with it she says her heart. Behija Jalal's CEO of Biotech Company Immunicor welcome to the
1:35.9	life scientific. Thank you for having me. Now Behija I want to start with T cells which we heard a
1:42.4	lot about during the pandemic of course and the race to develop vaccines. These T cells are a type
1:47.6	of white blood cell. They launch these precision attacks on infected cells in our bodies
1:53.4	but they can only fight what they can see. You work on treatments that increase their ability to
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