The UK government announced that the trial of personalized cancer vaccinations would move more quickly in England after an agreement with the BioNTech Company. The purpose of this MoU is to “ensure the best possible medicines are provided as early as autumn 2023” for cancer patients, the UK’s health minister, Steve Barclay, said.
This method of cancer treatment (MRNA) bears several advantages, is personalized for each patient and provides immune systems as per the genetic code from specific cancer to demolish only the tumour, while chemotherapy targets various cells in addition to the tumour.
BioNTech created the widely used MRNA vaccine for Covid in collaboration with Pfizer through its relationship with the UK government. This time the company put forward to produce 10,000 doses of personalized medicines for cancer patients through a new research and development hub.
According to the UK minister, “Once cancer is detected, we need to ensure the best possible treatments are available as soon as possible, including for breast, lung and pancreatic cancer.”
“This partnership will mean that as early as September, our patients will be among the first to participate in trials and tests to provide targeted, personalized, and precision treatments using transformative new therapies to treat existing cancer and help stop it from returning.”, He added.
On the other hand, prof. Ugur Sahin, the chief executive and co-founder of BioNTech, explained that this research results from “collaborative work”, commitment and lessons learned during the Covid-19 Pandemic. “Today’s agreement shows we are committed to doing the same for cancer patients.”
She added that the goal is to accelerate the development of immunotherapies and vaccines using technologies to cover various cancer types and infectious diseases affecting hundreds of millions worldwide.
This partnership “can improve patient outcomes and enable early access to our portfolio of cancer immunotherapies as well as to novel vaccines against infectious diseases—in the UK and globally.”, she concluded.
