Is it possible to cure cancer? The start of phase 2 of the “anti-cancer vaccine” clinical trials of BionTech they make us hope that the answer is YES.
The famous German pharmaceutical company, responsible for the production of the Covid Pfizer vaccine, has been working for years on the creation of a vaccine intended to defeat cancer.
The first phase of the project has already been completed in 2019 (, promising the full news), and doctors have since had a chance to improve the definitive formula.
Pfizer vaccine trials with mRNA technology, has helped the developers tremendously, who are hoping to exploit the same element to slow the recurrence of the cancer.
Let's see what is happening and what are the chances of success of the project.
The beginning of a new trial
The BioNTech company was founded about 13 years ago, with the aim of developing functional therapies against cancer.
The first objectives were achieved in 2019, shortly before the pandemic intervened in the "general slowdown" of research. BioNTech was forced to focus on the vaccine, like many other pharmaceutical companies, trying to help the population in difficulty.
The elaboration of the Pfizer vaccine it has thus come down to us, bringing doctors closer to mRNA technology (which, however, they already used before).
Now that Pfizer production continues apace, developers have returned to focusing on the cancer problem. Phase two of the clinical research trial has officially begun, with the selection of a "candidate".
Colorectal cancer, has become the protagonist of BionNTech trials, given its high relapse rate.
The main objective of the new vaccine is to train our immune system to recognize cancerous cells, so that it can attack them in time, eliminating them before they cause irreparable damage.
How the “tests” will work
Dr. Scott Kopetz, professor of gastrointestinal medical oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, is leading the phase 2 trial for testing the cancer vaccine.
Lately, he revealed a little more about the testing process and the number of participants admitted to the tests.
Kopetz manages the trial in the United States; other perpetrators follow cases in Germany, Spain and Belgium. The current number of participants it is around 200, but the idea is to increase them in the coming years.
The trail requires a lot of time to obtain an answer that can be defined as "satisfactory".
Participants in the trial will receive an injection of the vaccine every week for six weeks to build immune responses. After that, they will follow a biweekly schedule for about a year, with one dose every two weeks.
MRNA vaccines and the fight against cancer
The Covid-19 pandemic has led to a new rapprochement with the topic of mRNA vaccines.
Many doctors had - and still have - started experiments in this regard. The hope is to exploit this method to treat chronic diseases such as cancer and HIV.
Many people could take advantage of it, and return to live peacefully.
These new vaccines use a molecule called Messenger RNA (or mRNA for short). Strands of mRNA are small pieces of genetic information that “teach” the body how to behave. Specifically, they help the immune system to target a certain protein, exploiting the information arriving from the genetic material.
The spike protein has been the protagonist of Covid vaccines. After the trials, who knows how many other proteins could be attacked and how many diseases finally eradicated.
In the future, the arrival of a significant number of new mRNA vaccines is expected, which will try to defeat the most annoying problems of everyday life.
