BioNTech colorectal cancer vaccine trial

1 April 2023

BioNTech is now in full Phase II trials with its mRNA colorectal cancer vaccine designated BNT122. Approximately 200 high risk patients, who had all had surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy were vaccinated from the summer of 2021 onwards in Germany, Spain, Belgium and the USA.

The trial will evaluate recurrence rates, survival times and side-effects against the current standard of care options. This follows a phase Ia/Ib study that evaluated BNT122 both as a single agent and in combination with Roche’s PD-L1 antibody drug, Tecentriq (atezolizumab),. All patients had solid tumours. Each person requires a tailor-made vaccine (1).

Multiple trials on various cancers are taking place as part of BioNTech’s FixVac programme.

While the company is best known for its development of the mRNA Covid ‘vaccine’ with Pfizer, the use of vaccines in cancer has a long history. For example, Dendritic cell vaccines to prompt a better immune response in brain cancer have seen good results in a multi-country trial with DCVax..Cuba produced a vaccine for Lung cancer. French company Transgene have produced a Head and Neck cancer vaccine, and Duke Cancer Institute have produced a polio-virus based (2). The main difference lies in the delivery system and stimulator of the immune system.

However, the cancer vaccine debate is not new and Dr. Henry Friedman of Duke’s was treating patients with Dendritic cell vaccines as long ago as 2001. However, overclaims abound and Dr. Otis Brawley, the former Chief Medical Officer of the American Cancer Society and a professor of oncology and epidemiology at John Hopkins University has said that claims of cancer vaccinations and cures coming soon are nothing new (3).

The mRNA approach is 20-year old technology; Johns Hopkins Medical School have been very clear in saying that the Technology is ‘safe’, that the mRNA has no influence over your DNA but that once vaccinated, you cannot detox mRNA and remove it from your body (4). Medical News Today quotes Professor Martin Bachmann, immunology Professor of the University of Bern stating that the mRNA vaccines that have been developed to date for Covid actually use a modified form of mRNA to reduce the risk of unwanted side effects. “These are not normal RNA molecules; they’re slightly modified. And the more you modify them, I guess the less toxic they will be, but then they may also be less effective at actually immunizing, so I’m sure [pharmaceutical companies] found some compromise there between safety and the efficacy.” (5)

Go to: An Overview of Colorectal cancer

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