Health
What is a cancer vaccine? What you need to know, because trials promise
Topline
Cancer vaccines are finally showing promise as Moderna and Merck touted promising data on an experimental skin cancer vaccine and Britain announced plans for a “landmark” program to test the technology across the country this week, after decades of research that could see a new development can deliver. era of personalized medicine.
Moderna is one of several companies exploring how mRNA technology can be used to treat cancer.
Key facts
Merck and Moderna issued ‘extreme impressive†positive data from an interim trial of the world’s first personalized mRNA cancer vaccine for melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, which, when used alongside Merck’s blockbuster immunotherapy Keytruda, halved the risk of patients dying or the disease resolving . cancer that returns.
The process, the longest study in the new technology so far, is one of a growing number of collaborations testing how mRNA vaccines — the technology underlying COVID-19 in shots from Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna — could be used against different types of cancer.
mRNA, short for messenger ribonucleic acid, is a type of information molecule that contains instructions for cells on how to make proteins, including antigens that can stimulate the immune system.
While mRNA injections for viruses like COVID-19 are designed to prevent disease by instructing cells to produce a harmless viral protein that trains the immune system to recognize and defend against the virus in the future, mRNA cancer vaccines are therapeutic and intended for people who already have cancer.
Each vaccine is developed using cancer samples and personalized to an individual patient using genetic sequencing and artificial intelligence, priming the immune system to recognize unique mutations or characteristics of the cancer cells and attack them if they remain or recur flare up after treatments such as surgery. increasing the chances of recovery and staying cancer in the future.
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News Peg
While mRNA cancer vaccines are starting to show promise and experts are pointing out paradigm There is a change in cancer treatment on the horizon, but it is still too early for the therapy. The treatments still have a long way to go before they enter mainstream clinical practice. Until approval, the vaccine treatments are considered experimental and will be available mainly as part of clinical trials, which are already studying patients around the world, including the US. recruited. At the end of May, England announced a unique plan aimed at streamlining the often difficult recruitment process for legal cases. The country’s National Health Service will act as one matchmaker setting up thousands of patients on various clinical trials for specific cancer injections as part of the plan, which is called the Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad. Victoria Kunene, a doctor leading the trial at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, told According to the BBC, she said the vaccines mark a “new era,” adding that she hopes they will one day become “the standard of care.”
What to pay attention to
Merck and Moderna said they have entered late-stage clinical trials for both their melanoma vaccine and a lung cancer vaccine, both of which are “actively enrolling” participants. The companies have also begun mid- to late-stage trials of squamous cell carcinoma, another type of skin cancer, as well as a type of kidney cancer and urothelial carcinoma, which make up most bladder cancer.
Crucial quote
Late last year, Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel told AFP of the melanoma vaccine: “We believe the product could be commercialized under accelerated approval in some countries by 2025,” describing the vaccines as “immunotherapy 2.0.”
Important background
The early successes of Moderna’s cancer vaccine have helped boost confidence in the company and its future. While Moderna has thrived during the pandemic, its coronavirus shots remain the only product on the market. This will change soon after its recent approval RSV shot, its second ever, but Moderna is struggling to maintain its profile amid an influx of mRNA competitors and declining demand for Covid jabs. While it has a robust pipeline of traditional vaccines in development using its mRNA technology – such as for Lyme disease, influenza and norovirus – the company has bet big on its personalized cancer treatments and is clear that it plan to be at the forefront of this new frontier of medicine.
