Personalized cancer vaccines pass first major clinical test
Elie Dolgin • Jul 12, 2023
Moderna, BioNTech and others hope that personalized cancer vaccines will soon live up to their potential — even as they work out the wrinkles for the best use of their platform technologies.
Researchers have long suspected that therapeutic vaccines customized to a patient’s cancer might help raise the immune system to fight off the disease. Phase II data from a randomized trial of Moderna’s personalized vaccine mRNA-4157 now provide evidence that these therapeutics can yield meaningful — if still preliminary — clinical benefit.
The findings, reported earlier this year, have revitalized the cancer vaccine community, inspiring companies to intensify efforts to stimulate the immune system to recognize tumour-specific mutations known as neoantigens or neoepitopes.
Continue reading at Nature Reviews Drug Discovery.
Drug trial results show that vaccines aren't the only use for the mRNA technology behind the most widely used COVID-19 jabs.
FDA panel’s green light on glaucoma wearable device offers hope in sight.