Trials for a groundbreaking lung cancer vaccine have commenced in seven countries, marking a potential revolution in the treatment and prevention of the deadly disease. The vaccine, designed to eradicate lung cancer and prevent its recurrence, was first administered to Janusz Racz, a 67-year-old patient in Britain.
The vaccine, known as BNT116, targets non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the most common form of lung cancer. Racz received BioNTech’s mRNA-based cancer immunotherapy at University College London Hospital (UCLH).
The phase 1 clinical trial is being conducted across 34 research sites in seven countries: the UK, the United States, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Spain, and Turkey. In the UK, six sites in Wales and England are participating, with 30 out of 130 trial participants being from Britain.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths globally, responsible for over 1.8 million deaths each year. The disease has a particularly low survival rate once tumors spread. In the UK alone, there are approximately 48,500 new cases of lung cancer annually, with tobacco use being the leading avoidable cause, accounting for up to 72% of cases.
The cancer vaccine works by instructing the body to identify and destroy cancer cells, preventing them from returning. Similar to Covid-19 vaccines, the jab uses messenger RNA (mRNA) to present the immune system with tumor markers specific to NSCLC, priming the body to fight cancer cells expressing these markers.
Professor Siow Ming Lee of UCLH expressed optimism about the new treatment, stating, “We are now entering this very exciting new era of mRNA-based immunotherapy clinical trials to investigate the treatment of lung cancer.” He added, “It’s simple to deliver, and you can select specific antigens in the cancer cell, and then you target them. This technology is the next big phase of cancer treatment.”
