Loading…
The UK recently embarked on an ambitious plan to accelerate research into mRNA cancer vaccines, with German pharmaceutical company BioNTech. Photos/Illustrations/
This plan follows the success of mRNA technology that has been used in the production of the Covid-19 vaccine, namely the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the Moderna vaccine.
So that in this mRNA vaccine research, scientists will not target the corona virus, but cancer cells.
They hope to provide this kind of personalized care to around 10,000 patients by 2030.
Read also: Faced with Omicron, England relies on booster vaccines
The UK became the first country to sign this partnership. BioNTech itself has several international cancer vaccine trials underway.
However, according to BioNTech, the UK is an ideal country because it has a good track record and infrastructure for medical research.
“The UK is a great partner for this effort. We have seen in the Covid-19 pandemic with the rapid approval of vaccines in the UK that regulators have been tremendous,” said BioNTech co-founder Prof Ozlem Tureci , Friday (6/1/2023) .
“And then there are the genome analysis capabilities. England is one of the leading countries in this regard. The concept here is to use specific molecular features in a patient’s individual cancer to encode them in a vaccine mRNA and train the immune system to attack.”
Some of the patients in the trial are cancer patients who have previously undergone treatment and it is hoped that this vaccine will stop the cancer from coming back.
In addition, tests will also be carried out on patients with advanced stage cancer, so this vaccine trial is expected to help reduce and control the symptoms of this cancer.
Unlike chemotherapy, where the treatment will attack many cancer cells, mRNA treatment is tailored to the individual and gives the immune system a piece of the genetic code of a specific tumor so it can only attack the tumor.
This is what makes it more expensive to produce. But BioNTech ensures that this treatment is affordable enough for the healthcare system for cancer patients.
(hri)
