Thousands of NHS patients will receive personalized cancer vaccines over the next year in what has been hailed as a “landmark moment” for cancer care.
Doctors believe the treatments, tailored to help patients prevent cancer from returning, will herald a new era in the fight against the disease.
With dozens of vaccines in the pipeline, the NHS is launching a “world-leading” scheme that will “match” hospitalized patients with clinical trials.
This will quickly bring anyone who wants to participate in innovative research to their nearest clinical center, wherever they are in the country, and experts hope that it will one day become standard of care.
Father-of-four Elliot Pfebve, 55, became the first patient to receive a bowel cancer vaccine on the NHS, receiving his first dose at University Hospitals Birmingham in March.
Father-of-four Elliot Pfebve (pictured), 55, became the first patient to receive a bowel cancer vaccine on the NHS, receiving his first dose at University Hospitals Birmingham in March.
Elliot Pfebv (centre), a professor at Coventry University, had no symptoms of cancer and was diagnosed through a routine medical check by his GP.
Pictured are research nurses Ria (left), Hayley (right) and Dr Victoria Kunene (centre), consultant medical oncologist at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham.
Early results of the vaccine, made by BioNTech, will be presented tomorrow at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual conference in Chicago.
It is one of several vaccine trials for skin, bowel and lung cancer showing preliminary results at the world’s largest cancer conference this week.
Dozens of patients have begun receiving vaccines through the “cancer vaccine launch platform,” with thousands expected to sign up by 2026.
Chief executive Amanda Pritchard said the NHS was in a “unique position to deliver this type of world-leading research at size and scale”.
She said: ‘Seeing Elliot receive his first treatment as part of the cancer vaccine rollout is a landmark moment for patients and the health service as we look to develop better, more effective ways to stop this disease.
“Thanks to advances in care and treatment, cancer survival is at an all-time high in this country, but these vaccine trials could one day offer us a way to vaccinate people against their own cancer to help save more lives.”
More than 30 hospitals have signed up to participate in the cancer trials, which to date include melanoma, prostate, head and neck and bowel cancer.
As new treatments emerge, doctors hope to start testing similar vaccines for common cancers, including breast and lung cancers, in UK patients.
The process uses genetic material (RNA) from a patient’s tumor to develop the vaccine, which is then administered to patients through a series of infusions in the hospital.
In the same way that traditional vaccines use part of the virus to prevent disease, these use harmless proteins on the surface of cancer cells, known as antigens.
When these antigens are introduced into the body, the immune system is stimulated to produce antibodies against them, which then kill cancer cells.
Unlike traditional vaccines, cancerous tumors are individual for each patient, so they must be tailored to each patient.
While the trials are funded by drugmakers free of charge to the NHS, this type of personalized treatment is unlikely to be cheap if any of the vaccines get the go-ahead from regulators.
Last year, the Government signed an agreement with BioNTech to provide up to 10,000 patients with precision cancer immunotherapies by 2030, making it a global leader in this field.
The NHS launch pad is helping to speed up the identification of eligible patients for those trials in England.
The concept of vaccinating against cancer has been around for decades, but it has only now become a realistic prospect for reducing tumors thanks to new technologies such as genome sequencing.
Since all cancers are caused by genetic mutations that help them attack cells, grow and spread, scientists hope that one day this method can be used against all cancers.
As well as BioNTech, companies including Moderna and Merck are also in talks to start cancer vaccine trials in the UK.
Working in partnership with Genomics England, participants will have a sample of their cancer tissue taken and a blood test before undergoing traditional treatment, such as chemotherapy.
If they meet the eligibility criteria, they can be referred to the nearest participating NHS site up to 12 months after completing their initial treatment.
The process uses genetic material (RNA) from a patient’s tumor to develop the vaccine, which is then administered to patients through a series of infusions in the hospital.
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Professor Peter Johnson, NHS national clinical director for cancer, said it was “a very important advance in the future of cancer treatment”.
He said: We see this as something that will probably be increasingly important to us and as a way of treating people that is quite different to what we have done previously with things like chemotherapy, which although may reduce the chances of the recurrence of some cancers it is far from being universally effective and of course has many side effects.
‘Obviously we have to wait to see the results of the trials. But the preliminary data is certainly starting to look very promising.
“That’s one of the reasons we’ve committed time, effort and resources to creating this system to make sure we get the evidence as quickly as possible.”
Cancer Research UK Chief Research and Innovation Officer Iain Foulkes said: “It is incredibly exciting that patients in England are starting to access personalized vaccines against bowel cancer.
‘This technology is a pioneer in the use of mRNA-based vaccines to sensitize people’s immune systems and, in turn, detect and combat cancer in its early stages.
‘Clinical trials like this are vital to helping more people live longer and better, without fear of cancer. If successful, the vaccine will be a game-changer in preventing the onset or recurrence of bowel cancer.’
