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The BioNTech laboratory, known for having developed an mRNA vaccine against Covid-19, announces that it has signed an agreement with the British health authorities to launch clinical trials of cancer treatments.
The German laboratory BioNTech has just signed a memorandum of understanding with the British government, the amount of which is not disclosed. The two parties have agreed to accelerate clinical trials for personalized mRNA immunotherapies.
Goal: Provide personalized cancer therapies to 10,000 patients by the end of 2030, either in clinical trials or as licensed treatments.
Accelerating the development of immunotherapy
“Our goal is to accelerate the development of immunotherapies and vaccines using technologies that we have studied for more than 20 years. The collaboration will cover various types of cancer and infectious diseases collectively affecting hundreds of millions of people worldwide. If successful, this collaboration has the potential to improve patient outcomes and provide early access to our suite of cancer immunotherapies as well as innovative infectious disease vaccines – in the UK and around the world. world“said BioNTech in its press release.
This objective is therefore part of a collaboration based on three axes to be developed:
- cancer immunotherapies based on mRNA or other drug classes;
- vaccines against infectious diseases;
- investments to expand BioNTech’s footprint in the UK.
A research center inaugurated
The British Ministry of Health for its part and in a press release specified that “the agreement means cancer patients will have early access to trials exploring personalized messenger RNA therapies.”
This is now BioNTech’s next mission. The German laboratory will begin to select candidates, test sites and will put in place a development plan with the aim of being ready during the second half of 2023.
In addition, a research and development center with 70 researchers will be inaugurated in Cambridge at the end of the first quarter of the year and a regional headquarters will also be set up in London.
“Our goal is to accelerate the development of immunotherapies and vaccines using technologies we have been researching for over 20 years“said Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech, quoted in the press release, which specifies that the first trials could see the light of day in the fall of 2023.
Slide: Misconceptions about cancer