University College London Hospitals (UCLH) announced in August 2024 that a patient with lung cancer at UCLH is the first to receive a novel cancer vaccine in a clinical trial in the UK. BioNTech’s investigational immunotherapy, BNT166, uses mRNA to present common tumour markers from non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to the patient’s immune system. The vaccine is designed to offer a lower risk of toxicity to health, non-cancerous cells. This study will determine if BNT116 is safe and well tolerated. It is enrolling patients at different stages of NSCLC.
The trial
The trial is intended to establish the safety profile and a safe dose of BNT116 as a monotherapy as well as BNT116 in combination with other treatments for NSCLC to explore if BNT116 has a “synergistic anti-tumour effect” in combination. Around 130 participants will be enrolled in the study at 34 research sites in seven countries; six sites in the UK have been selected.
Consultant medical oncologist Dr Sarah Benafif is leading the study at UCLH and stated that “the strength of the approach” is that the treatment is “aimed at being highly targeted towards cancer cells”.
“In this way we hope that in time we are able to show that the treatment is effective against lung cancer whilst leaving other tissues untouched.”
UCLH Director of Research and Director of the NIHR UCLH Biomedical Research Centre, Professor Karl Peggs emphasised that “developing new approaches to cancer is a major priority for research at UCLH and within the BRC”. Professor Peggs is excited to see the first-in-human research “get started” at UCLH.
“We are able to do this kind of research thanks to our first-rate clinicians and research teams, our track record of working alongside industry, and our facilities and infrastructure which receive crucial support from the NIHR.”
An exciting new era
Professor Siow Ming Lee of UCL reflected that lung cancer “remains the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide”, causing an estimated 1.8 million deaths in 2020.
“We are now entering this very exciting new era of mRNA-based immunotherapy clinical trials to investigate the treatment of lung cancer, thanks to the foundation laid by the Office for Life Sciences, within the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology and the Department for Health and Social Care.”
Professor Lee hopes that the research will “provide an opportunity to further improve outcomes for our NSCLC patients, whether in the early or advanced stages”.
Advancing science
The first participant in the trial is Janusz Racz, 67, from London. He decided to participate in the trail “because I hope it will provide a defence against cancer cells” but also because “my participation in this research could help other people in future and help this therapy become more widely available”.
“As a scientist myself, I know that science can only advance if people agree to participate in programmes like this. I work in artificial intelligence, and I am open to trying new things. My family did research about the trial too, and they supported me taking part.”
Science Minister Lord Vallance is pleased to see the vaccine taking its “next important step” with potential to save the lives of “thousands diagnosed with lung cancer every year”.
“With Government support, these trials demonstrate again that the UK’s world-leading life sciences sector is at the forefront of turning research into new treatments like cancer vaccines, which could be transformative for patients up and down the country. We back our researchers so that they can continue to be an integral part of projects that produce groundbreaking therapies, like this one.”
NHS England national cancer director Dame Cally Palmer believes that if this is successful, cancer vaccines could be “revolutionary in vaccinating people against their own cancers to prevent the cancer recurring after their initial treatment”.
“Pioneering work is being undertaken by hospitals throughout the country with their university and industry partners to look at ways of harnessing the body’s own immune system to treat a range of cancers.”
Although a cancer diagnosis is “very worrying”, access to trials and other interventions “provides hope”.
“We expect to see thousands more patients taking part in trials over the next few years.”
For more on cancer vaccine developments, including from representatives of BioNTech, join us at the Congress in Barcelona this October and don’t forget to subscribe to our weekly newsletters here.
