Cancer will be treated with personal vaccines

Competition is also tightening: Roche and BioNTech (whose mRNA platform once formed the basis of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine) are testing a similar drug on patients with colon and pancreatic cancer who have undergone surgery. Results for the intestines are expected in 2027, for the pancreas — only by 2031: this type of cancer is too insidious to succumb quickly.

Cautious optimism instead of victorious reports

The trial is not yet complete — the companies will continue to monitor patients to understand whether the vaccine extends not only the time without relapse, but also life itself. The full data have not yet been published; the results will be presented at a specialized medical conference later. However, the head of clinical research at one of the major cancer centers compares what happened to something out of science fiction fifteen to twenty years ago: then the idea of ​​a vaccine collected from a sample of a specific patient’s tumor tissue sounded utopian.

For Russia, the news is still purely theoretical — neither Keytruda, nor even a personalized mRNA vaccine under such a scheme has been registered in the country, and the path from FDA approval to the appearance of the drug on the domestic market usually takes years. But the very fact that the mRNA platform has proven effective against a solid tumor for the first time in a large randomized trial changes the landscape for the entire pharmaceutical industry — which means that sooner or later it will have an impact here too.

Sources:

reuters.com
bloomberg.com
ajmc.com

Xrust Cancer will be treated with personal vaccines