The NIHR Leeds Clinical Research Facility (CRF) at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT) has been selected to support a new NHS England initiative to expand access to cancer vaccine research.
The Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad (CVLP) aims to increase patient participation in trials for innovative colorectal cancer vaccines. Initially, the CVLP will collaborate with a clinical trial for the personalised colorectal cancer vaccine BNT122-01, developed by BioNTech SE.
Leeds CRF will refer eligible bowel cancer patients to The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester for consideration in the trial. As the CVLP grows, it is expected to include patients with other types of cancer, streamlining trial participation for hospitals across England.
The programme’s goal is to advance personalised cancer treatments, starting with the BNT122-01 trial. This involves recruiting patients, transferring tissue samples for genomic sequencing, and evaluating the CVLP’s potential to support additional cancer vaccine trials.
Professor Chris Twelves, Director of Leeds CRF, expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration, saying, “We are delighted to offer patients the opportunity to participate in this innovative trial for a ‘personalised’ vaccine aimed at reducing the risk of bowel cancer recurrence. This is just one of an increasing number of innovative cancer vaccine trials open to patients in and around our region.”
Professor Mark Saunders, a consultant oncologist at The Christie, also voiced support, highlighting the potential for the personalised vaccine to improve long-term survival for patients.
“We are very supportive of this new initiative and are delighted to be working with CVLP and collaborating with Leeds Teaching Hospitals to facilitate this exciting vaccine trial. This is a trial for patients with detectable tumour genes in their blood after curative surgery. The hope is that patients randomised to the personalised vaccine have a better chance of long-term survival and cure.”