BioNTech’s cancer vaccine succeeds in halting tumor growth

BERLIN

Turkish scientists Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci, the co-founders of BioNTech, have announced that their cancer vaccine has succeeded in halting tumor growth and reducing its size in their initial tests.

Sharing the promising first results of their cancer vaccine, on which they have worked for 15 years, during the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress held in the Spanish capital Madrid, Şahin and Türeci disclosed that the vaccine was administered in four doses to a group of 44 patients, resulting in at least a 30 percent reduction in tumor size for 59 percent of the subjects.

Remarkably, in 95 percent of the participants, the cancer stabilized and ceased to progress after the vaccine regimen, Şahin said.

During the vaccine administration, some participants experienced an increase in dose-dependent inflammation reactions, with side effects such as lowered blood pressure and elevated body temperature observed in 23 individuals, he added.

BioNTech's ambitious vision involves treating approximately 10,000 cancer patients by 2030.

Şahin earlier stated that the cancer drugs the duo has developed could be on the market in a few years. He noted that the trial processes of the drugs they have developed against lung, pancreatic and colon cancers continue with encouraging developments.

The couple and their company BioNTech became known across the globe with the mRNA vaccine they developed shortly after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was quickly approved and released on the market. More than 1.5 billion people worldwide have received the vaccine.

On the other hand, compensation lawsuits for the long-term negative side effects of the COVID-19 vaccines of companies such as BioNTech and AstraZeneca are also frequently on the agenda.