Richard has welcomed the news that the government has signed a major agreement with biotechnology company BioNTech to bring groundbreaking cancer treatments a step closer.
The new agreement is aimed at providing up to 10,000 patients with cancer vaccines by 2030. Building on a memorandum of understanding signed in January, the partnership will provide cancer patients with improved access to the latest cancer trials and therapies currently being developed.
The partnership with BioNTech includes UK-based clinical trials intended to help treat patients through the use of precision immunotherapies which work by stimulating the immune system to recognise and eliminate cancer cells.
Richard Fuller MP said:
Our new partnership with BioNTech is a huge step forward in the fight against cancer. Personalised cancer vaccines have the potential to completely revolutionise the way we treat this cruel disease and it is hugely welcome that clinical trials will be rolled out widely.
BioNTech has already begun conducting clinical trials in the UK. Further trials will be launching although the majority of patients are expected to be enrolled from 2026 onwards. To help deliver this research, BioNTech plans to set up new laboratories in Cambridge with an expected capacity of more than 70 highly skilled scientists, as well as a new UK office which will be situated in London.
A new Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad, led by NHS England in partnership with Genomics England, will help to rapidly identify cancer patients who could be eligible for potential trials. It will work by creating a database of suitable NHS cancer patients who will be offered the choice to take part in personalised cancer vaccine trials. The partnership will aim to help patients with early and late-stage cancers and, if successfully developed, cancer vaccines could become part of standard care.
Trials will focus on personalised cancer immunotherapies – a type of cancer treatment that activates the patient’s immune system and can either be designed to target shared abnormalities in a specific type of cancer or tailored to an individual's tumour. Immunotherapies tailored to an individual are created by analysing a patient’s tumour to identify mutations that are specific to that individual’s cancer, then using that information to create an immunotherapy personal to that patient.
The partners involved will work to make processes as simple and effective as possible with BioNTech aiming to start further clinical trials and make potential new therapies available in the UK as soon as possible. Patients will be asked by the NHS to consent to be put forward for clinical trials, and surplus tissue samples will be used to assess their eligibility. The detail of any suitable clinical trials will be made available to the participant and their treating clinical team to see if they would like to take part in the relevant trial.
