BNT116 (lung cancer vaccine)

2024: First patient received vaccine

At the end of August 2024, it became known that in Britain the first patient in the world received a vaccine against lung cancer. The drug, called BNT116, was developed by the German company BioNTech using mRNA technology.

The BNT116 vaccine is designed to combat non-small cell cancer lung (NSCLC) disease. World Organization health care The ailment is estimated to be the most common form of lung tumours, accounting for approximately 85% of the approximately 2.2 million new cases of lung malignancies diagnosed each year worldwide.

𝓲

Dailymail

The first patient to receive BNT116 was 67-year-old Janusz Racz from London. The vaccine is aimed at strengthening the body's immune response: it "marks" cancer cells and stimulates the body to fight them. At the same time, the risk of damage to healthy tissues is minimized, which distinguishes this method from chemotherapy.

Ratz received the first six injections of the drug BNT116 five minutes apart at University College London Hospital (UCLH). In the future, the man will receive the vaccine weekly for a month and a half, and then every three weeks for 54 weeks.

We already have certain data suggesting that this vaccine is well tolerated. We hope that over time we will be able to demonstrate that the treatment is effective against lung cancer and does not affect healthy tissue, says Dr. Sarah Benafif, UCLH Clinical Trial Leader.

Lung cancer is a major public health problem and causes a significant number of deaths worldwide. Tobacco smoking (including cigarettes, cigars and tubes) is a leading risk factor, but the disease also occurs in nonsmokers. Scientists hope that the emergence of BNT116 will mark a new era in the fight against the disease.^[1]

Notes