What cancer vaccine is Russia giving?

• Russia has developed a new, mRNA-based personalized cancer vaccine, expected to be available free for patients by early 2025.

• The vaccine, a form of immunotherapy, teaches the body’s cells to produce an antigen, training the immune system to produce antibodies against it.

• The vaccine’s pre-clinical trials have shown that it suppresses tumor development and potential metastases.

• Unlike chemotherapy, the cancer cells are killed, and side effects are lowered.

• The vaccines are not meant for healthy patients to prevent disease; they are meant to target and treat the tumours.

• The U.K.’s National Health Service launched the Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad to speed up access to mRNA personalised cancer vaccine clinical trials.

• In the U.S., global biopharmaceutical company CureVac showed promising immune responses in a phase 1 study in patients with glioblastoma.

• More than 120 clinical trials are underway worldwide.

• Doctors stress that the use of the word ‘vaccine’ may be misleading as cancer is not caused by a single organism.

• The Russian treatment is currently under trial, and it is difficult to determine its safety and effectiveness without all the data being publicly available.