In a recent breakthrough in cancer research, scientists have found two types of personalized vaccines to be “safe and effective” in initial human clinical trials.
According to a Reuters report, the vaccines successfully stopped the re-occurrence of cancer in 12 out of 19 melanoma patients within 2 years of treatment. Results of the trials were published on the scientific journal Nature, and were based on small clinical trials of two vaccines developed by institutes in the US and a biotech firm in Germany. The vaccines were also limited to the treatment of skin cancer or melanoma.
Larger Clinical Trials Needed
According to Newsweek, the initial clinical trials were small, one with only 6 patients and the other, only 13 patients. The results of the studies, however, show that researchers can now continue to develop new cancer vaccines. Larger clinical trials are also needed to make sure that new treatments are widely effective.
Personalized vaccines according to the report take much longer to make. Prior to crafting a vaccine, scientists have to study an individual’s cancer and somehow predict how it will mutate. Once this is determined, a vaccine is then designed with neoantigens that the immune system will fight back.
The successful clinical trials also show that the vaccines were safe to use, which signals further clinical trials and research. Other cancer researchers also reacted to the results, saying that it confirms “the potential of cancer vaccines.” Cornelius Melief of Leiden University Medical Center added, “Controlled, randomized Phase II clinical trials with more participants are now needed to establish the efficacy of these vaccines in patients with any type of cancer that has enough mutations to provide sufficient neoantigen targets for this type of approach.”
Big Drug Companies Weigh In
Multinational pharmaceutical companies are also weighing in on the results. According to Reuters, leading cancer drug manufacturer Roche work with the German biotech firm to test its vaccine in conjunction with its immunotherapy drug Tecentriq. The trials will start later this year, as confirmed by the firm.
Another biotech firm is also said to be using the U.S. research results for its own vaccine, which will be tested in conjunction with another immunotherapy drug, Opdivo of Bristol-Myer.