Thousands of patients in England will be fast-tracked to ground-breaking trials of personalized cancer vaccines in a revolutionary world-first NHS “matchmaking” scheme to save lives.
The game-changing samples, which aim to provide a permanent cure, are customized for each patient within a few weeks. They are tailored to the 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 the eligibility criteria and agree to have a blood test and sample of their cancer tissue analyzed will be given immediate access to clinical trials for the new vaccines which experts say are a new dawn of treatments for cancer.
The head of NHS England’s Amanda Pritchard hailed the development as a “landmark moment” for patients. “The NHS is in a unique position to deliver this kind of world-leading research at scale and scale,” she said.
Research into cancer vaccines 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 cancer returning.
The NHS has dozens of patients on its scheme, the Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad, with thousands more to be signed up at 30 NHS sites across England. The first trials are expected to focus on colorectal, skin, lung, bladder, pancreatic and kidney cancers, officials said, but other forms of the disease could be added in the future.
“As more of these trials get underway at hospitals across the country, our national matching service will ensure that as many eligible patients as possible have the opportunity to access them,” Pritchard said.
Details of the scheme were announced on the eve of the world’s largest 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 working with the NHS on the trials, will present new preliminary data tomorrow at the Asco conference on how measuring circulating tumor DNA can help increase early detection of colorectal cancer.
Iain Foulkes, the executive director of research and innovation at Cancer Research UK, said it was “incredibly exciting” that patients would have access to personalized stitches in a development that would be a “game changer” in the fight against cancer. “Clinical trials like this are essential to help more people live longer, better lives, free from the fear of cancer,” he said.
The first NHS patient to join the Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad is Elliot Pfebve. The 55-year-old lecturer at Coventry University had no symptoms and was diagnosed with colorectal cancer following a routine health check-up at his GP. He had surgery to remove his 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 taking part in the BioNTech colorectal cancer vaccine trial. It was designed using the same mRNA technology used to create the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid vaccine.
“By the potential of this trial, if it’s successful, it could help thousands, if not millions, of people, so they can have hope,” Pfebve said. “I hope it will help 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 trial was a very important decision in my life, both for me and my family,” Pfebve said. “After going through the ordeal of diagnosis and debilitating chemotherapy, it felt great to take part in something that could lead to a new way of treating cancer, and if others can benefit from what the trial can discover, then it’s great, too.”
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The trial’s lead investigator, Dr Victoria Kunene, said it was too early to say whether Pfebve was completely cured, but said she was “extremely hopeful”.
“Based on the limited data we currently have of the in-body response to the vaccine, this could be a significant and positive development for patients, but more data is still needed and we continue to select suitable patients for the trial. site to determine it further.”
Cancer vaccines are designed to trigger an immune response that can prevent cancer from returning after surgery to remove tumors, by stimulating a patient’s immune system to recognize and destroy any remaining cancer cells – and prevent them from coming back .
“Seeing Elliot receive his first treatment as part of the Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad is a landmark moment for patients and the health service as we seek to develop better and more effective ways to stop this disease,” said Pritchard .
Last month the Guardian reported as doctors began testing the world’s first personalized mRNA cancer vaccine for melanoma, as experts hailed its potential to permanently cure cancer.
Prof Peter Johnson, NHS England’s national clinical director for cancer, said: “We know that even after successful surgery, cancers can sometimes return because there are some cancer cells left in the body, but using a vaccine to targeting those remaining cells may be a way to prevent this from happening.
“Access to clinical trials can provide another option for patients and their families, and I am delighted that through our national launch platform we will expand the opportunities to be part of these trials to many more people, with thousands of patients expected to be recruited in the following year.”
NHS officials said that vaccines being tested in the trials are aimed at helping patients with different types of cancer and, if successfully developed, researched and approved, could become part of standard care.
