Cancer patients to be given vaccine trials by autumn

Government signs deal with BioNTech to test therapies using same technology as its world-leading Covid jabs

JOE PINKSTONE Science Correspondent Telegraph 7th January 2023.

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CANCER vaccine trials will start in the UK this year after the Government signed a deal with BioNTech, the company that created the mRNA technology behind the Pfizer Covid jab. The agreement will enable BioNTech to conduct cutting-edge clinical trials in the UK with British patients set to be enrolled in trials as soon as this autumn.

The so-called cancer vaccines are not preventative but are instead therapeutic tools designed to fight established disease and advanced tumours.

BioNTech created the world’s first authorised mRNA vaccine for the coronavirus in 2020. It works by injecting a person with a small piece of genetic code to create a specific immune response. It was found to be safe and extremely effective at protecting against severe disease from Covid-19, and updated omicron-specific jabs are now being rolled out to over-50s.

Britain was the first country to give people the BioNTech vaccine as a result of the rapid approval from the MHRA, recommendation from the JCVI and distribution by the NHS.

These pandemic-forged relationships have led to the company investing money to conduct mRNA vaccine research in Britain. It is understood that a lab of around 70 scientists will be created in Cambridge to spearhead the research while the firm will also set up a London-based office as its UK headquarters.

The offices and labs will be ready to start in the coming weeks and months ahead of people being enrolled in cancer vaccine trials by September. Patients will be recruited by the company for the trials via the Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad, which is being created by the NHS and Genomics England, and will help researchers find ideal candidates for various drugs. Multiple forms of cancer, including breast, lung and pancreatic, will be targeted by BioNTech’s vaccine technology, as well as Covid, malaria and TB.

It is hoped that the technology will be found to be safe and effective, embedded into standard care and that 10,000 doses will be given to UK patients by 2030. The announcement of the BioNTech agreement comes less than a month after it was confirmed that the UK had signed a deal with the world’s other premier mRNA medicines manufacturer, Moderna, to make mRNA vaccines in the UK.

The two contracts ally Britain with the world’s two most prominent mRNA vaccine companies in the world and will ensure access for Britons to breakthrough immunisations and treatments.

Steve Barclay, the Health Secretary, said: “This partnership will mean that, from as early as September, our patients will be among the first to participate in trials and tests to provide targeted, personalised and precision treatments using transformative new therapies

DNA pattern discovery will immediately change how we treat disease and paves way for bespoke therapy

Article in Daily Telegraph 22nd April 2022 By Laura Donnelly HEALTH EDITOR

CANCER treatment is set to be revolutionised by a “mindblowing” gene study by the University of Cambridge, which has discovered 58 mutational signatures, experts say. The findings, from the largest study of its kind, will allow medics to provide more personalised treatment, matched to individual tumours.

Until now, scientists had identified 72 mutational signatures that could cause cancer. But the new research – based on tumours from more than 12,000 NHS patients – has found “a treasure trove” of new clues that will allow medics to develop a tool to help match treatments to patients.

Scientists behind the study said the technique can be used immediately on any patient who undergoes whole-genome sequencing. Currently, this is largely offered to those with rare diseases and inherited disorders, as well as all children with cancer.

But there are plans to roll this out far more widely in the next five to 10 years.

A team of scientists led by Prof Serena Nik-Zainal, from Cambridge University Hospitals and University of Cambridge, said the scale of the study, and the vast amount of data, meant they could detect patterns in the DNA of cancer that had never been identified before. The research, supported by Cancer Research UK, published in the journal Science, has allowed scientists to develop a computer-based tool that means that any cancer patient who undergoes whole-genome sequencing can be checked for the signatures, and given tailored treatment advice.

It means they could be offered types of immunotherapy that only work on particular tumours, for example.

Prof Nik-Zainal, professor of genomic medicine and bioinformatics, said it was “mindblowing” to have been able to carry out such major research involving so many patients.

She added: “I’m amazed. I am so proud, actually, to be a doctor and a scientist that can use this data that has been generated by the public sector; it is extraordinary.”

She said the research was a “really important step forward” in the use of genomics as a standardised test for the future. “The reason it is important to identify mutational signatures is because they are like fingerprints at a crime scene – they help to pinpoint cancer culprits,” she added.
“It’s like looking at a very busy beach with thousands of footprints in the sand. To the untrained eye, the footprints appear to be random and meaningless. But if you are able to study them closely, you can learn a lot about what’s been going on, distinguish between animal and human prints, how old the prints are, whether it’s an adult or child, what direction they’re travelling in,” the scientist said.

“It’s the same thing with the mutational signatures. The use of whole-genome sequencing can identify which ‘footprints’ are relevant and important and reveal what’s happened through the development of the cancer.”

The data were provided by the 100,000 Genomes Project, an England-wide research initiative to sequence 100,000 whole genomes from 85,000 patients affected by rare disease or cancer.