- Dame Kate Bingham said experimental technology is how we will beat cancer
Former Covid jab tsar Dame Kate Bingham has urged the NHS to launch cancer vaccine trials which she believes will save thousands of lives.
Dame Kate said that the experimental technology – which trains the immune system to hunt out cancer cells – will be ‘ultimately how we are going to treat this terrible disease’.
The venture capitalist said that she envisioned a future where Britons received cancer ‘blood tests at Boots’ to spot the disease early and then received a vaccine ‘at an early stage before the cancer takes over’.
She added that she was proud that the UK was the first country to administer Covid jabs and said she ‘would love this to be exactly the same with cancer vaccines’.
However, Dame Kate warned that Britain was in danger of falling behind other countries because the NHS was not giving researchers time to conduct clinical trials.
Former Covid jab tsar Dame Kate Bingham (pictured) has urged the NHS to launch cancer vaccine trials which she believes will save thousands of lives
Her comments came after the announcement last week that the first personalised vaccine for melanoma skin cancer was being trialled on NHS patients. Early results suggest the jab can drastically improve the survival chances of patients with the disease – the deadliest form of skin cancer.
Trials are also underway for patients with lung, liver, kidney, bowel and pancreas cancer.
Cancer experts have claimed that the UK is entering a ‘cancer renaissance’ with personalised jabs to combat some of the deadliest tumours expected by 2030.
The vaccines are designed to target specific genetic mutations found in cancer cells. This means that, should the cancer return, the immune system will spot it immediately and destroy the cells before they have time to spread.
Data published last year found that melanoma patients who were given the new jab alongside another immune-boosting drug were half as likely to die or have their cancer come back after three years, compared to those taking only immunotherapy.
Cancer experts have claimed that the UK is entering a ‘cancer renaissance’ with personalised jabs to combat some of the deadliest tumours expected by 2030 (stock photo)
The vaccines are designed to target specific genetic mutations found in cancer cells (stock photo)
Dame Kate chaired the Government’s Covid vaccine taskforce between May and December 2020, which was responsible for procuring jabs to protect people in the UK from the virus.
Speaking last Wednesday at The Great National Cancer Vaccine Summit, hosted by the health event firm Convenzis, she said that cancer vaccines would likely be given as nasal sprays or skin patches to make them affordable.
Dame Kate pointed to research from the National Audit Office which concluded that rolling out the Covid jabs – including buying equipment and hiring staff – cost more than developing the vaccines. ‘That can’t be a sustainable way to run a mass vaccine programme,’ she said.
Dame Kate also expressed concern about the fall in the number of clinical trials taking place on the NHS over the past five years.
Studies suggest there has been a 40 per cent reduction in new clinical trials since 2017. This is largely because hospitals – which can decide whether to put patients forward for trials – were focusing on clearing record waiting lists.
‘[Doctors] are doing clinical trials on evenings and weekends because they realise it’s the right thing to do,’ she said. ‘That’s just not acceptable. There needs to be wholesale recognition that trials need to be set up quickly.’
However, experts say cancer vaccines could be a turning point.
Dr Lennard Lee, a cancer vaccine expert at the University of Oxford, said there are now 12 drug manufacturers testing cancer jabs in the UK. He added: ‘We are already gaining the reputation as the best country in the world to develop cancer vaccines.’