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Thousands of patients in England will be fast-tracked into ground-breaking trials of personalized cancer vaccines in a ground-breaking, world-first NHS ‘matchmaking’ scheme to save lives.
The game-changing injections, which aim to provide a permanent cure, are custom-made for each patient in just a few weeks. They are tailored to an individual’s tumors and work by telling their body to hunt down and kill any cancer cells and prevent the disease from coming back.
Under the new scheme, the first of its kind in the world, patients who meet eligibility criteria and agree to have a blood test and a sample of their cancer tissue will be given immediate access to clinical trials for the new vaccines, which experts say are a new dawn in cancer treatment.
The head of NHS England’s Amanda Pritchard hailed the development as a “landmark moment” for patients. “The National Health Service is uniquely placed to deliver this kind of world-leading research in size and scale,” she said.
Cancer vaccine research is at an early stage, but trials have already shown that they can be effective at killing any remaining tumor cells after surgery and dramatically reducing the risk of the cancer returning.
The NHS has enrolled dozens of patients in its scheme, the Crab Vaccine Launch Pad, with thousands more to be rolled out across 30 NHS sites in England. The first trials are expected to focus on colon, skin, lung, bladder, pancreas and kidney cancers, officials said, but other forms of the disease may be added in the future.
“As more of these trials begin to take place in hospitals across the country, our national matchmaking service will ensure that as many eligible patients as possible gain access to them,” Pritchard said.
Details of the scheme were revealed ahead of the world’s biggest cancer conference, the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco) in Chicago, where tens of thousands of oncologists, health researchers and scientists will gather this weekend.
German biotech company BioNTech, one of the companies partnering with the NHS in the trials, will present new preliminary data at the Asco conference tomorrow on how measuring circulating tumor DNA could help increase the early detection of colorectal cancer.
Iain Foulkes, executive director of research and innovation at Cancer Research UK, said it was “incredibly exciting” that patients could access personalized injections in a development that would change the game in the fight against cancer. “Clinical trials like this are vital to help more people live longer, better lives without the fear of cancer,” he said.
The first NHS patient to join the cancer vaccine launch pad is Elliott Pfebv. The 55-year-old lecturer at Coventry University had no symptoms and was diagnosed with colorectal cancer following a routine check-up with his GP. He underwent surgery to remove the tumor and 30 cm of his colon, followed by chemotherapy.
Pfebve then received his personalized cancer vaccine at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, one of several sites involved in the BioNTech colorectal cancer vaccine trial. It is engineered with the same mRNA technology used to create the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid vaccine.
“Because of the potential of this trial, if it’s successful, it could help thousands, if not millions, of people to be able to have hope,” Pfebwe said. “I hope this helps other people.”
His vaccine was created by analyzing his tumor to identify mutations specific to his cancer. Doctors then used this data to create a personalized cancer vaccine.
“Being a part of this process was a really important decision in my life, both for me and for my family,” Pfebwe said. “After going through the hardships of diagnosis and debilitating chemotherapy, it felt great to be able to be involved in something that could lead to a new way of treating cancer, and if others can benefit from what the research can find, then that’s great, too.”
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The trial’s principal investigator, Dr Victoria Kunene, said it was too early to say whether Pfebve had been fully cured, but said she was “extremely hopeful”.
“Based on the limited data we currently have on the intrinsic response to the vaccine, this could be a significant and positive development for patients, but more data is still needed and we are continuing to recruit suitable patients for the trial to determine this further on.’
Cancer vaccines are designed to induce an immune response that can prevent cancer from returning after surgery to remove tumors by stimulating the patient’s immune system to recognize and destroy any remaining cancer cells—and stop them from coming back.
“Seeing Elliot receive his first treatment as part of a cancer vaccine launch pad is an important moment for patients and the health service as we strive to develop better and more effective ways to stop this disease,” Pritchard said .
Last month The Guardian reported. how doctors have begun trialling the world’s first personalized mRNA cancer vaccine against melanoma, as experts hailed its “game-changing” potential to permanently treat cancer.
Prof Peter Johnson, NHS England’s national clinical director for cancer, said: “We know that even after successful surgery, cancer can sometimes come back because a few cancer cells are left in the body, but using a vaccine to target these remaining cells may be a way to stop this from happening.
“Access to clinical trials can provide another opportunity for patients and their families, and I am delighted that through our national launch pad we will be expanding the opportunity to be part of these trials for many more people, with thousands of patients expected to be recruited over the next year .”
NHS officials said the vaccines being tested in the trials aim to help patients with various forms of cancer and, if successfully developed, studied and approved, could become part of standard care.
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