An NHS vaccinator administers the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 booster jab to a woman at a vaccination center in London. BioNTech is starting a large-scale trial of mRNA therapies in the UK to treat cancer and other diseases
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LONDON – The UK government on Friday announced a partnership with a German firm bioentech To test potential vaccines for cancer and other diseases, as campaigners warned that any breakthrough must be cheap and accessible.
Cancer patients in England will soon have access to trials involving personalized mRNA therapies, including cancer vaccines that aim to prompt the immune system to attack harmful cells.
They would be administered to early and end-stage patients and would both target active cancer cells and prevent their return.
BioNTech will set up new research and development centers in the UK with a laboratory in Cambridge and headquarters in London, and will aim to deliver 10,000 treatments to patients from September 2023 to the end of the decade.
The company developed one of the most widely distributed COVID-19 vaccines with a US pharma firm pfizer, Its CEO, Ugur Sahin, said it had learned lessons from the coronavirus pandemic about collaboration between the British National Health Service, academia, regulators and the private sector in drug development that was now being implemented.
“Our goal is to accelerate the development of immunotherapies and vaccines using technologies we’ve been researching for 20 years,” he said in a statement. “This collaboration will cover a wide variety of cancers and infectious diseases collectively affecting millions of people worldwide.”
Peter Johnson, UK’s national clinical director for cancer, said mRNA technology has the potential to transform the approach to many diseases.
The government confirmed to CNBC that the announcement represents a private investment in the UK, but will be supported by a new cancer vaccine launch pad funded by the NHS.
Other mRNA cancer vaccines, including collaborations between US firms modern And merckis also being trialled.
Tim Birley, a campaigner for the UK-based group Global Justice Now, said big drug companies had a “terrible record of driving up prices on new drugs, even as public funding has played a key role in getting them to market”. “
“The government has a moral duty to press BioNTech to fix the price of this potentially life-saving vaccine so that it is accessible to all,” he added.
Mohaga Kamal-Yanni, policy co-lead for the People’s Vaccine Alliance — a global group of health organizations, economists and activists — said the news of the trial was good, but any results “belong to the people” because of the amount of public money. is included.
“The UK government must explain how it will ensure that any new drugs, vaccines or technologies are made affordable and available to developing countries,” Kamal-Yanni said.
A government spokesperson told CNBC that the research was too early to discuss pricing and distribution, but pointed to its record in distributing free COVID-19 vaccines.