Pfizer’s COVID Vaccine is Leading to a New Generation of Cancer Treatments

The COVID-19 crisis has posed a laundry list of challenges for the pharmaceutical logistics space. However, it has also given the opportunity for success and celebration – such as with the successful rollout of Pfizer’s lifesaving vaccine. Now experts are saying that the mRNA technology which makes the Pfizer vaccine so effective, may open up the possibility for new personalised treatments in the field of oncology.

The main issue with treating cancer is that the body’s immune system does not recognise the mutated cells as a foreign invaders and therefore does not trigger the usual response. Turning on this response to make the patient’s own body fight back against the disease has long been held to be the key to an effective cure.

“The motivation for this individualised cancer vaccine is that every tumour is different,” said Chief Executive of German biotechnology company and Pfizer’s partner on development of the COVID-19 vaccine, BioNTech, Uğur Şahin. “Even patients with the same cancer type do not have identical tumours, meaning a personalised treatment is likely to be more effective than a one-size-fits-all approach.”