Head and neck cancer patients in Gloucestershire to be given enhanced access to new cancer vaccine trial

Gloucestershire Hospitals is a referring site for the latest trial in the CVLP platform, a world-leading trial ‘match-making’ service which is being coordinated by the Southampton Clinical Trials Unit, on behalf of NHS England.

The investigational cancer vaccine in this latest trial on the platform uses mRNA technology to help the immune system recognise and kill cancer cells which express human papillomavirus (HPV) proteins.

More than 100 patients with advanced head and neck cancer across 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).

Patients being treated at Gloucestershire Hospitals who are eligible for the trial will be able to be referred to the nearest hospital where the trial is running, to take part and receive the trial treatment. Patients can speak to their specialist about trials they might be eligible for.

Mr James Bristol, Head of Genomics at Gloucestershire Hospitals, said: “The Clinical and Research teams at Cheltenham General and Gloucestershire Royal Hospital have worked hard together to give our patients the opportunity to participate in these groundbreaking trials of cancer vaccines.

"This trial follows on from our success in being the second-largest contributor nationally to an earlier vaccine study involving patients with colorectal cancer.

"The teams are also engaged with a similar trial for patients with advanced malignant melanoma, and expect to recruit into further studies in future”.

This is the third cancer vaccine trial to be run through the NHS Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad, which has already helped refer hundreds of 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.

Despite advances in care for patients with head and neck cancer, the advanced form of the disease is difficult to treat and has high rates of recurrence, with two-year survival rates at under 50%.

The investigational cancer vaccine is designed to encode two proteins that are frequently found in head and neck squamous cell cancers associated with human papillomavirus (HPV-16). This is the most common type of head and neck cancer, accounting for 95% of these types of cancers, and the vaccine aims to train the immune system to fight the cancer.

NHS England is partnering with life sciences company BioNTech to help identify potentially eligible patients to refer to NHS hospitals running the clinical trial.

Professor Peter Johnson, NHS England National Clinical Director for cancer said: “It’s fantastic that more patients with advanced head and neck cancers will now be able to access this potentially transformative vaccine – it could offer renewed hope for patients, who often live in fear of keeping their cancer at bay, and has the potential to greatly enhance treatment options in the future.

“The NHS is always looking for evidence-backed innovations in treatment to improve survival and quality of life for people diagnosed with cancer, and this expansion of our Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad will give hundreds of patients the chance to be part of cutting-edge advances in cancer care.”

About the NHS Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad (CVLP)

• The NHS Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad (CVLP)is a platform sponsored by NHS England aiming to widen access to cancer vaccine clinical trials for people who have been diagnosed with cancer. It will also accelerate the development of cancer vaccines as a form of cancer treatment or to prevent the cancer from returning.
• It has been instrumental in accelerating trial activity in cancer research, with CVLP sites driving faster patient enrolment timelines compared to a typical clinical trial process, enabling the acceleration of patient enrolment in one recent study by nearly a year.
• The ambitious programme aims to match thousands more cancer patients with cancer vaccine and immunotherapy trials for different types of cancer in future.