NHS to fast-track patients with head and neck cancer into cancer vaccine trial
Patients with advanced head and neck cancers in England will be fast-tracked into a trial of a new cancer vaccine, as the NHS expands its world-leading trial ‘match-making’ service.
The investigational cancer vaccine uses mRNA technology to help the immune system recognise and kill cancer cells containing human papillomavirus proteins.
More than 100 patients with advanced head and neck cancer in England will be matched to the trial, running at 15 NHS hospitals over the next year, supported by the NHS’ Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad (CVLP).
This is the third cancer vaccine trial to be run through the NHS Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad, coordinated by the Southampton Clinical Trials Unit, which has already helped refer around 550 patients to trials of vaccines for bowel and skin cancers.
The first head and neck cancer patients in England have received the investigational mRNA cancer vaccine in the clinical trial, known as AHEAD-MERIT (BNT113-01), with more patients to soon be enrolled at their nearest NHS hospital.
More than 11,000 new head and neck cancer cases are diagnosed in England every year, with cancers typically developing in the mouth, throat or voice box.
