Former Covid jab tsar tells NHS to launch experimental cancer vaccine trials with breakthrough technology that trains the immune system to hunt for malignant cells

Former Covid jab tsar Dame Kate Bingham has urged the NHS to launch trials of cancer vaccines which she believes will save thousands of lives.

Dame Kate said the experimental technology – which trains the immune system to detect cancer cells – “will ultimately be the way we treat this terrible disease”.

The venture capitalist said she envisioned a future where Britons would undergo ‘blood tests at Boots’ to detect the disease early and then receive a vaccine ‘at an early stage before the cancer takes over’.

She added that she was proud that Britain was the first country to administer Covid jabs and said she would ‘like to see this be exactly the same with cancer vaccines’.

However, Dame Kate warned that Britain was in danger of falling behind other countries because the NHS was not giving researchers time to conduct clinical trials.

Her comments came after the announcement last week that the first personalized melanoma skin cancer vaccine was being trialled on NHS patients. The first results suggest that the jab can drastically improve the survival chances of patients with the disease – the deadliest form of skin cancer.

Trials are also underway for patients with lung, liver, kidney, colon and pancreatic cancer.

Cancer experts have claimed Britain is entering a ‘cancer renaissance’ with personalized injections to fight some of the deadliest tumors expected by 2030.

The vaccines are designed to target specific genetic mutations found in cancer cells. This means that if the cancer returns, the immune system will immediately detect the cancer and destroy the cells before they have time to spread.

Data published last year showed that melanoma patients who received the new shot alongside another immune-boosting drug were half as likely to die or have their cancer come back after three years, compared with those who used immunotherapy alone.

Cancer experts have claimed Britain is entering a ‘cancer renaissance’ with personalized jabs to fight some of the deadliest tumors expected by 2030 (stock photo)

The vaccines are designed to target specific genetic mutations found in cancer cells (stock photo)

Dame Kate chaired the government’s Covid vaccine taskforce between May and December 2020, which was responsible for procuring jabs to protect people in Britain from the virus.

Speaking last Wednesday at the Great National Cancer Vaccine Summit, organized by health events company Convenzis, she said cancer vaccines would likely be given in the form of nasal sprays or skin patches to make them affordable.

Dame Kate pointed to research from the National Audit Office which found that rolling out the Covid jabs – including buying equipment and hiring staff – costs more than developing the vaccines. “That cannot be a sustainable way to run a mass vaccination program,” she said.

Dame Kate also raised concerns about the decline in the number of clinical trials taking place in the NHS over the past five years.

Research shows that the number of new clinical trials has decreased by 40 percent since 2017. This is largely because hospitals – who can decide whether to present patients for testing – have focused on eliminating waiting lists.

“(Doctors) are doing clinical trials in the evenings and on weekends because they realize it’s the right thing to do,” she said. ‘That’s just not acceptable. There must be broad recognition that trials must be set up quickly.’

However, experts say cancer vaccines could be a turning point.

Dr. Lennard Lee, a cancer vaccine expert at the University of Oxford, said there are now 12 drug makers testing cancer jabs in Britain. He added: ‘We are already gaining a reputation as the best country in the world to develop cancer vaccines.’