World first as lung cancer patients start to receive trial mRNA vaccine

Doctors have begun trialling the world's first mRNA lung cancer vaccine in patients, as experts hailed its "groundbreaking" potential to save thousands of lives.

- Andrew Gregory

Lung cancer is the world's leading cause of cancer death, accounting for about 1.8m deaths every year. Survival rates in those with advanced forms of the disease, where tumours have spread, are particularly poor.

Now experts are testing a new jab that instructs the body to hunt down and kill cancer cells - then prevents them from ever coming back. Known as BNT116 and made by BioNTech, the vaccine is designed to treat nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the most common form of the disease.

The phase 1 clinical trial, the first human study of BNT116, has launched across 34 research sites in seven countries: the UK, US, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Spain and Turkey. The UK has six sites, located in England and Wales, with the first UK patient to receive the vaccine having their initial dose on Tuesday.

Overall, about 130 patients - from early-stage before surgery or radiotherapy, to late-stage disease or recurrent cancer - will be enrolled to have the jab alongside immunotherapy. About 20 will be from the UK.