The mRNA revolution continues. Just a few years after mRNA vaccines proved their efficacy against COVID-19, scientists are now turning their attention to lung cancer.
The mRNA vaccine, known as BTN116, developed by the German biotechnology company BioNTech, is the first of its kind and has entered phase 1 clinical trials in seven countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. This vaccine is designed to treat non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the most common form of the disease.
“Lung cancer is the biggest killer worldwide. And using the mRNA technology, this is just a first generation,” said medical oncologist Siow Ming Lee, a consultant medical oncologist at University College London Hospitals (UCHL) Clinical Research Facility, which is leading the trial in the U.K.“But hopefully, it’s a beginning, and it can lead to a better outcome for lung cancer patients worldwide, not only the U.K. but other places like Canada, America and China,” he told Global News.
The vaccine works by identifying and targeting cancer cells, Lee said, and is designed to complement other lung cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
Phase 1 clinical trials have been launched across 34 research sites in seven countries: the U.K., the U.S., Germany, Hungary, Poland, Spain and Turkey. In the U.S., three locations are currently recruiting patients, accepting people at both early and late stages of the disease.
“It’s very exciting. When we look back less than four years ago with the mRNA COVID vaccine, people had doubts and there was uncertainty, but it definitely works,” Lee said. “I think people need to remember the COVID-19 vaccine worked for cancer patients. It reduced mortality more than the general population.”
In Canada, lung cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer deaths. According to Lung Cancer Canada, more than 20,000 Canadians will die from lung cancer this year — more than the combined deaths from breast, prostate and colon cancers.
The disease is also the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, with 1.8 million fatalities in 2020, accounting for the highest mortality rates among both men and women.