Latest news with #CancerVaccineLaunchPad
BBC News
14-04-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Skin cancer patients could join Southampton vaccine project
Patients with advanced skin cancer could be fast-tracked to take part in a "revolutionary" trial of a new cancer needle-free injection boosts the immune system's response and helps it attack and recognise cancer cells to help stop the disease trial is being coordinated by the Southampton Clinical Trials Unit, which is based at the city's university, and is aiming to expand the number of patients able to take is the fifth most common cancer in the UK and accounts for about 4% of all new cancer cases but research shows it is on the rise. The NHS will work with Oxford-based life sciences company Scancell to widen access for patients at seven sites across England, including in Southampton, with the first patients set to be referred in work is being done as part of the NHS's Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad (CVLP), a trial to help find treatments for patients at their nearest participating NHS Paul Thomas, 63, from New Milton, Hampshire, was first diagnosed with advanced skin cancer in 2017 and the disease kept returning following was put on the trial in July and said he felt lucky to be included."Thankfully I was still quite fit and since I've been on it, my tumours have all shrunk. Every time I go for a scan they seem to be shrinking, which is very exciting," Mr Thomas said."I'm really hoping for total eradication of my cancer, as opposed to being put in remission and I'm feeling optimistic." Potential participants first need a blood test to determine their tissue type. It looks at genes that control how the immune system works which varies from person to Gareth Griffiths, director of the Southampton Clinical Trials Unit, said: "We hope that by being part of this ground-breaking programme we can help to increase referrals for this trial and give more patients with advanced melanoma access to new, potentially life-saving treatments." You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X, or Instagram.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Skin cancer patients given fast-track access to Southampton vaccine trial
Skin cancer patients are being given fast-track access to Southampton's "revolutionary" Cancer Research UK vaccine trial as it expands. The Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad has been expanded to include patients with advanced melanoma. The scheme matches eligible patients to studies developing vaccines against cancers. The latest trial, known as SCOPE, focuses on a new DNA vaccine aimed at improving the immune system's recognition of cancer cells to enhance response to immunotherapy. The NHS has partnered with Scancell, a life-sciences company based in Oxford, to widen access to the trial for patients with advanced melanoma. READ MORE: Southampton Hospital CONFIRMS it will be making cuts Professor Gareth Griffiths, director of the Southampton Clinical Trials Unit, said: "It is fantastic to see the expansion of the Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad with the addition of this melanoma cancer vaccine trial. "Our team has been working hard with Scancell to bring the trial onto the CVLP platform and we hope that by being part of this ground-breaking programme we can help to increase referrals for this trial and give more patients with advanced melanoma access to new, potentially life-saving treatments." Patients from several hospitals across the UK, including University Hospital Southampton (UHS), are already participating in the phase II SCOPE trial. SCOPE patient Paul Thomas with health minister Karin Smyth (Image: Submitted) Paul Thomas, a 63-year-old grandfather of four and window cleaner from New Milton, Hampshire, is taking part in the trial at UHS. READ MORE: MP concerned over potential closure of local pharmacies He was diagnosed with advanced skin cancer in 2017 and expressed his gratitude for being on the trial, saying: "I feel so lucky to be put on the trial. "Thankfully, I was still quite fit and since I've been on it, every time I go for a scan they seem to be shrinking, which is really exciting." To mark the launch of the SCOPE trial, health minister Karin Smith, who herself was treated for melanoma, visited the unit. She said: 'As someone who has overcome skin cancer, I know that every advancement in treatment brings hope to patients and their families. 'This innovative collaboration through our Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad could transform how we treat advanced melanoma." Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: 'This kind of innovation is nothing short of life-saving and I want to see more of these world-leading treatments being developed in the UK." Melanoma is the fifth most common cancer in the UK, accounting for around 4 per cent of all new cancer cases – with analysis by CRUK showing cases had risen by a third between 2009-2019. Around half of melanoma patients respond to standard care of immunotherapy, but people who don't respond are at higher risk of their cancer progressing.
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Cancer Vaccines Are Suddenly Looking Extremely Promising
With the help of mRNA technology proven effective during the COVID pandemic, researchers are now closer than ever to creating viable cancer vaccines. In an interview with Wired, Lennard Lee, an oncologist with the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS) working on mRNA cancer vaccines, says he believes the groundbreaking research may prove to be a "silver lining" in the brutal COVID-19 pandemic. Before COVID, as Lee told the magazine, "cancer vaccines weren't a proper field of research." "Pretty much every clinical trial had failed," the NHS oncologist said. "With the pandemic, however, we proved that mRNA vaccines were possible." As with mRNA COVID vaccines, the logistics of these potential new cancer inoculations work by "giving the body instructions" to fight troublesome cells, as Lee detailed, ultimately providing the immune system with a how-to manual on fighting cancer. "Going from mRNA Covid vaccines to mRNA cancer vaccines is straightforward," he told Wired. "Same fridges, same protocol, same drug, just a different patient." Instead of the one-size-fits-all approach taken with the widespread usage of mRNA COVID jabs, however, these new cancer vaccines will be personalized for each individual cancer patient. "In the current trials," Lee elucidated, "we do a biopsy of the patient, sequence the tissue, send it to the pharmaceutical company, and they design a personalized vaccine that's bespoke to that patient's cancer." "That vaccine is not suitable for anyone else," he recounted to the magazine. "It's like science fiction." According to Lee, breakthrough cancer vaccine innovation came on the heels of the UK's rapid infrastructure-building during the COVID pandemic, which saw the country "open and deliver clinical trials" much faster than anyone would have expected. As COVID began winding down in 2022, Lee and his colleagues set up the Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad, a post-pandemic pet project that segued mRNA research into the arena of oncology. Not long after, "the dominoes started falling very quickly" as that project and others around the world rapidly progressed towards cancer vaccines. One NHS trial seeking to stop skin cancer from coming back was completed a year early — something that's "completely unheard of," Lee said. The NHS oncologist told Wired that the results from that trial should come out by the end of this year or the beginning of 2026. If it was successful, Lee told Wired, he and his team "will have invented the first approved personalized mRNA vaccine — an impressive feat indeed, especially this soon after the technology was deployed at scale during the pandemic. More on the cancer vax: Groundbreaking Ovarian Cancer Vaccine at an "Exciting" Moment, Lead Scientist Says
WIRED
13-03-2025
- Health
- WIRED
Covid Vaccines Have Paved the Way for Cancer Vaccines
Mar 13, 2025 4:00 AM The mRNA technology behind coronavirus vaccines is now being used to create bespoke vaccines for cancer patients. If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIRED Lennard Lee, a UK National Health Service oncologist and medical director at the Ellison Institute of Technology in Oxford, calls himself just a 'simple doctor,' but he's anything but. During the pandemic, he led clinical efforts that showed it was still safe to give cancer patients chemotherapy, disproving fears that the coronavirus made this too risky, helping to maintain cancer treatment worldwide. He also delivered UK research that showed lateral flow testing was effective in identifying the most infectious Covid patients. His most important project, however, is the one he's currently leading as the national government advisor for mRNA cancer vaccines. This new type of vaccine, which is based on the same technology as the Covid vaccines first developed by BioNTech and Moderna, is seen by many as a potential breakthrough in the fight against cancer. Ahead of speaking at WIRED Health in London next week, Lee tells WIRED why he hopes these vaccines will prove to be the 'silver lining of the pandemic.' This interview has been edited for length and clarity. WIRED: There are currently hundreds of mRNA cancer vaccine trials ongoing worldwide. How did the success of mRNA Covid vaccines kickstart this? Lennard Lee: Cancer vaccines weren't a proper field of research before the pandemic. There was nothing. Apart from one exception, pretty much every clinical trial had failed. With the pandemic, however, we proved that mRNA vaccines were possible. WIRED Health showcases the most exciting and thought-provoking disruptors, scientists, and practitioners making a positive change in how we provide and access health care. Find out more. mRNA cancer vaccines work by giving the body instructions to make a harmless piece of a cancer-related protein. This trains the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells carrying that protein. Think of it like a training manual for security guards. The vaccine gives the immune system a guide on what cancer looks like, so it knows exactly who to watch for and remove. Going from mRNA Covid vaccines to mRNA cancer vaccines is straightforward: same fridges, same protocol, same drug, just a different patient. In the current trials, we do a biopsy of the patient, sequence the tissue, send it to the pharmaceutical company, and they design a personalized vaccine that's bespoke to that patient's cancer. That vaccine is not suitable for anyone else. It's like science fiction. In the UK, you set up the Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad at the end of 2022 to fast-track cancer vaccine trials. Why set up such an ambitious project right after the Covid pandemic? The pandemic was ending, the Omicron variant was much milder than previous variants, and everyone had had their vaccines. Research in the area of Covid vaccines was starting to close down, but companies like Moderna and BioNTech were trying to figure out what to do next, because there wasn't going to be a need for a Covid vaccine market forever. So they started to pivot to cancer vaccines using mRNA technology, and they were looking for countries with proven capabilities for vaccine research and manufacture. In the meantime, the UK was ready. We had fridges and we had world-class manufacturing and research facilities. During the pandemic, we had proven we could open and deliver clinical trials fast. Also, the UK had established a genomic global lead with Genomics England and the 100,000 Genome Project. All doctors and nurses in this country are trained in genomics. That was a big signpost for any pharmaceutical industry. So the UK government signed two partnerships: one with BioNTech to provide 10,000 patients with access to personalized cancer treatments by 2030, and a 10-year investment with Moderna in an innovation and technology center with capacity to produce up to 250 million vaccines. The stars were aligned. During the pandemic, the UK was opening clinical trials in a matter of a few weeks. But before it used to take years to complete a clinical trial. What changed? It was really fascinating, because for many years, we believed that research is inherently slow. It used to take 20 years to get a drug to market. Most cancer patients, unfortunately, will succumb by the time a drug gets to market. We showed the world that it could be done in a year if you modernize your process, run parts of the process in parallel, and use digital tools. Of course, opening a clinical trial during a pandemic is not necessarily the same as a clinical trial for cancer. But you had a breakthrough moment for the cancer vaccine project at an early stage. There was a trial run by BioNTech, called BNT122, on people with high-risk bowel cancer, which was not recruiting very well across the world. So when we announced the Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad, the UK cancer community took that opportunity. We opened that trial at Birmingham University Hospital, which was the most surprising thing for me, because it is not a leading cancer vaccine studies center. We needed to get 10,000 patients enrolled in the trial, and we got there within the course of three months. It was quite amazing. It just goes to show that because we're a single health care system, we can do this much quicker than any other country. The dominoes started falling very quickly on the back of that success: we opened a head and neck cancer trial in Liverpool, an esophageal and gastric cancer trial in Dundee, and a lung cancer trial in London. We started to create a community of people who were all pushing for launching cancer vaccine trials as quickly as possible. Several mRNA-based cancer vaccines are in late-stage clinical trials internationally, and the UK is currently running 15 cancer-vaccine trials. When will we see the first approved mRNA cancer vaccine? We have a trial to stop skin cancer coming back after you cut it out. It's now completed. We over-recruited again, just like every single one of the trials that we ran, and the trial finished one year ahead of schedule. That's completely unheard of in cancer trials because they normally run over-long. What will happen now is that, over the next six to 12 months, we will monitor the people in the trial and work out if there's a difference between the people who took the cancer vaccine and the ones who didn't. We're hoping to have results by the end of the year or beginning of 2026. If it's successful, we will have invented the first approved personalized mRNA vaccine, within only five years of the first licensed mRNA vaccine for Covid. That's pretty impressive. Hear Lennard Lee speak at WIRED Health on March 18 at Kings Place, London. Get tickets at .
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
MHRA seeks input on new regulatory guidance for cancer vaccines
The UK's drug regulatory authority has launched a public consultation process to design a new regulatory guidance for personalised mRNA cancer immunotherapies. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is seeking feedback from industry stakeholders, healthcare professionals, and patients, to refine the regulatory pathway for these therapies until 31 March 2025. Personalised cancer immunotherapies are designed to train a patient's immune system to recognise and destroy cancer cells based on their own unique genetic profile. Unlike conventional treatments, each therapy is tailored using technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) to match the specific molecular characteristics of a patient's tumour. The MHRA's executive director of healthcare quality and access Julian Beach highlighted that because these treatments are tailored to an individual's tumour, they pose unique scientific questions on how they should be regulated. The guidance will outline key regulatory considerations, including product design, manufacturing requirements, clinical trial evidence, and post-approval safety monitoring for personalised mRNA cancer vaccines. The UK regulatory agency said that future updates may extend the guidance to other personalised therapies, including treatments for rare diseases. June Raine, MHRA's CEO said: 'As an enabling regulator, we do not wish to keep patients waiting unnecessarily for important new medicines such as personalised immunotherapies. We are asking all stakeholders to comment on draft guidance that addresses the questions this new regulatory pathway raises.' The UK government has been making broader efforts to advance mRNA-based cancer treatments. In January 2023, the UK government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the mRNA therapeutics leader BioNTech to accelerate clinical trials of cancer vaccines in England. Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH) began a clinical trial in 2023 of an mRNA vaccine manufactured by BioNTech to treat patients with head and neck cancer. Through the Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad, a collaboration between NHS England and Genomics England, the UK aims to deliver 10,000 personalised cancer vaccine treatments by 2030. Across the pond, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates mRNA vaccines as biologic products. Sponsors must submit an investigational drug application (IND) through the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) before initiating any human clinical trials. If the trials demonstrate safety and efficacy, sponsors can seek approval to market the mRNA-based product through the CBER biological licence application (BLA) process. In the European Union (EU), there are currently no regulatory guidelines specifically addressing mRNA-based vaccines. However, the existing regulatory framework clearly defines that mRNA-based vaccines, in most cases, must be centrally approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). On a global scale, new initiatives are ongoing at the World Health Organization (WHO) to establish a broad consensus on international guidance for the manufacture, quality control, and nonclinical and clinical evaluation of mRNA vaccines worldwide. "MHRA seeks input on new regulatory guidance for cancer vaccines" was originally created and published by Pharmaceutical Technology, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Sign in to access your portfolio
