Cancer patients to receive tailor-made vaccines from the NHS: Father-of-four becomes first to get personalized vaccine as health chief hails ‘milestone moment’ as thousands receive jabs

By Liam On May 30, 2024

Thousands of NHS patients will receive personalized cancer vaccines over the coming year, in what is seen as a ‘landmark moment’ for cancer care.

Doctors believe the treatments – which are tailor-made for patients to prevent their cancer from returning – will herald a new era in the fight against the disease.

With dozens of vaccines in the pipeline, the NHS is launching a ‘world-leading’ program that will ‘match’ hospital patients with clinical trials.

This will quickly bring anyone wanting to take part in groundbreaking research to the nearest clinical site in the country, with experts hoping this will one day become the standard of care.

Elliot Pfebve, a 55-year-old father of four, became the first patient to receive a bowel cancer vaccine on the NHS, receiving his first dose at the University Hospitals of Birmingham in March.

Elliot Pfebve (pictured), a 55-year-old father of four, became the first patient to receive a bowel cancer vaccine on the NHS. He received his first dose in March at Birmingham University Hospitals.

Coventry University lecturer Elliot Pfebv (centre) had no cancer symptoms and was diagnosed through a routine health check with his GP

Pictured are research nurses Ria (left), Hayley (right) and Dr Victoria Kunene (centre), a medical oncologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham

Early results from the vaccine, made by BioNTech, will be presented tomorrow at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual conference in Chicago.

It is one of many studies involving vaccines against skin, colon and lung cancer that will deliver preliminary results this week at the world’s largest cancer conference.

Dozens of patients have started receiving vaccines through the “cancer vaccine launch pad,” and thousands of patients are expected to sign up by 2026.

Father-of-four becomes first patient to receive a bowel cancer vaccine on the NHS

Coventry University lecturer Elliot Pfebv, 55, had no symptoms of cancer and was diagnosed through a routine health check at his GP.

After blood tests, the father-of-four was sent to the Manor Hospital in Walsall and taken to a hospital ward where he was given blood transfusions.

A CT scan and colonoscopy confirmed he had colon cancer in May 2023 and needed surgery to remove the tumor and a 12-inch section of his colon.

He was referred to Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham for initial rounds of chemotherapy and to take part in the clinical trial.

He said participating in this process had been “a very important decision” for himself and his family.

He said: ‘After going through the difficulty of diagnosis and grueling chemotherapy, it felt great to be able to take part in something that could lead to a new way of treating cancer.

“If it’s successful, it could help thousands, if not millions, of people so they can have hope and maybe not experience everything I went through. I hope this will help other people.

‘The team in Birmingham were absolutely fantastic and helped me through the whole process, so I knew exactly what to expect.

“They have helped me every step of the way and whatever the outcome of the process, I will always be grateful to them.”

Chief executive Amanda Pritchard said the NHS was in a ‘unique position to deliver this type of world-leading research on a scale and scale’.

She said: ‘Seeing Elliot receive his first treatment as part of the Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad is a milestone for patients and the healthcare system as we try to develop better and more effective ways to stop this disease.

‘Thanks to advances in care and treatment, cancer survival in this country is at an all-time high, but these vaccine trials could one day give us a way to vaccinate people against their own cancer and help save more lives. ‘

More than 30 hospitals have signed up to participate in the cancer trials, which so far include melanoma, prostate, head and neck and colon cancer.

As new treatments come online, doctors expect to test similar vaccines for common cancers, including breast and lung, on British patients.

The process uses genetic material – RNA – from a patient’s tumor to develop the vaccine, which is then given to patients through a series of infusions in the hospital.

In the same way that traditional vaccines use part of the virus to prevent disease, these use harmless proteins from the surface of cancer cells, known as antigens.

When these antigens are introduced into the body, the immune system should be stimulated to produce antibodies against them, which then kill the cancer cells.

Unlike traditional vaccines, cancer tumors are individual to each patient and must therefore be tailored to each patient.

Although trials are funded by drug makers so are free to the NHS, this kind of personalized treatment is unlikely to be cheap if either vaccine gets the green light from regulators.

Last year, the government signed an agreement with BioNTech to provide up to 10,000 patients with precision cancer immunotherapies by 2030, making BioNTech a global leader in this field.

The NHS launch pad will help speed up the identification of patients eligible for these trials in England.

The concept of vaccinating against cancer has been around for decades, but has only now become a realistic prospect for shrinking tumors thanks to new technology such as genome sequencing.

Because all cancers are caused by genetic mutations that help them attack cells, grow and spread, scientists hope this method could one day be used against all cancers.

In addition to BioNTech, companies such as Moderna and Merck are also in discussions to set up cancer vaccine trials in Britain.

In partnership with Genomics England, participants will have a sample of their cancer tissue and a blood test taken before undergoing traditional treatment such as chemotherapy.

If they meet the eligibility criteria, they can be referred to the nearest participating NHS site up to 12 months after their initial treatment ends.

The process uses genetic material – RNA – from a patient’s tumor to develop the vaccine, which is then given to patients through a series of infusions in the hospital.

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Professor Peter Johnson, National Clinical Director for Cancer in the NHS, said this is ‘a very important development in the future of cancer treatment’.

He said: We see this as something that will probably become increasingly important to us and in a way of treating people that is very different to what we have done before with things like chemotherapy, which, although it can reduce the chances of cancer, Some cancers that come back are far from universally effective and obviously have many side effects.

‘We obviously have to wait for the results of the tests. But the preliminary data is certainly starting to look promising.

“That’s one of the reasons why we’ve put time, effort and resources into setting up this system to make sure we get the evidence as quickly as possible.”

Iain Foulkes, executive director of research and innovation at Cancer Research UK, said: ‘It is incredibly exciting that patients in England are starting to have access to personalized cancer vaccines for bowel cancer.

‘This technology pioneers the use of mRNA-based vaccines to sensitize people’s immune systems and in turn detect and target cancer at its earliest stages.

‘Clinical trials like this are crucial to helping more people live longer, better lives, free from the fear of cancer. If successful, the vaccine will be a game changer in preventing the onset or recurrence of colon cancer.”