UK, BioNTech test mRNA against cancer

The UK government will partner with BioNTech to fast-track up to 10,000 patients into clinical trials of mRNA immunotherapies to treat cancer. The alliance builds on lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which vaccine development accelerated because the country’s National Health Service (NHS), academia, the regulator and the private sector worked together, according to a BioNTech press release.

Credit: Backyard Productions / Alamy Stock Photo

The project, dubbed the Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad and run by the NHS and Genomics England, will recruit patients starting September 2023 to take advantage of the clinical trial, genomics and centralized healthcare data infrastructure afforded by the NHS.

The trials of yet undisclosed mRNA cancer immunotherapies in adjuvant or metastatic settings will run until 2030. Around one-third of BioNTech’s wholly owned mRNA vaccine candidates are already in UK trials, all using a fixed combination of mRNA-encoded tumor-associated antigens. These include BNT111 for advanced melanoma, BNT112 for prostate cancer and BNT113 for head and neck and other cancers.

Also as part of the agreement, the Mainz, Germany-based BioNTech will set up an R&D hub in Cambridge, UK employing around 70 researchers, as well as an office in London.