Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The NHS is partnering with UK life sciences company Scancell to do clinical trials of an ambitious new vaccine to treat skin cancer, as the government seeks to boost Britain’s position as a global leader in drug research.
Patients with advanced melanoma — the fifth most common cancer in the UK — will be able to join a study of a DNA vaccine that scientists hope will improve the efficacy of drugs known as immunotherapy.
About half of patients do not respond to immunotherapy, which aims to harness the body’s immune system to tackle cancer cells. This group could benefit from the vaccine improving their ability to recognise the cells.
The UK is trying to attract more clinical trials after losing out to rival European countries since the Covid-19 pandemic, as a result of reduced capacity to run the studies within the health service.
The government believes the publicly funded NHS should be a strong selling point for pharmaceutical companies, seeking to recruit a large patient population and collect data.
The trial, co-ordinated from the Southampton Clinical Trials Unit at the University Hospital Southampton, aims to sign up dozens of patients by October.
Professor Peter Johnson, NHS national cancer director, said skin cancer can have a “devastating impact”. Cases rose by a third between 2009 and 2019, according to Cancer Research UK.
“We know that cancer vaccines have the potential to revolutionise cancer care for patients in this country and across the world — and to save more lives,” he said.
Last week, the prime minister announced plans to invest about £600mn in a new central research service to store and allow access to health data. The public body, due to launch by the end of next year, will charge research organisations to access the data.
The UK “cancer vaccine launch pad”, an organisation set up to encourage trials in the area, has already been fast-tracking patients into clinical trials for the therapies including helping thousands of bowel cancer patients access studies.
The government has partnered with BioNTech, a German biotech best known for its Covid-19 vaccine with Pfizer, to enrol up to 10,000 patients in its trials.
“We want to ensure as many eligible NHS patients as possible have access to these vital trials, which is why we are working with a range of industry partners as more studies get up and running to ensure patients are fast-tracked to a vaccine that could transform lives,” Johnson said.
BioNTech is pursuing many therapies tailored to the mutations found in a patient’s cancer, but Scancell is developing “off-the-shelf” vaccines that can be used without being personalised.
Phil L’Huillier, Scancell’s chief executive, said this is a “more straightforward” approach, that could be easier for health systems to afford.
The company was founded in 1996 based on the research led by Professor Lindy Durrant at the University of Nottingham.
Dr Nermeen Varawalla, Scancell’s chief medical officer, said recent clinical data had shown that its cancer vaccine delivers “strong efficacy” with the “potential for meaningful long-term supply benefits” for patients with advanced melanoma that had spread.
