Patients with advanced head and neck cancers across England will be fast-tracked on to a cancer vaccine clinical trial at Clatterbridge as an NHS initiative expands.
Eligible head and neck cancer patients will be invited to take part in the study at The Clatterbridge Centre (CCC) or 14 other research hospitals across the country in an extension of the NHS’s world-leading trial ‘matchmaking’ service, the Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad (CVLP).
And a former head and neck cancer patient at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre has welcomed the new initiative, saying it gives hope to other people who develop the disease.
Stuart Kingston was 63 when he was diagnosed with tongue cancer in October 2020. He was successfully treated at Clatterbridge, which included being on a clinical trial, and was later declared cancer free.
Stuart, a retired teacher, of Widnes, Cheshire, said: “I was successfully treated by a brilliant team at Clatterbridge, but some people are not so lucky. The failure rate of treatment is quite high for head and neck cancer so any new clinical trials that people can access will give people hope for the future.
“I went on a clinical trial to give something back. I thought, ‘if the cancer research and knowledge gained from my participation can help someone going through the same in the future, then sign me up.’ And I would encourage anyone who is advised to go on a research trial to go for it.”
More than 100 patients with advanced head and neck cancer in England will be matched to the cancer vaccine trial.
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 being enrolled soon.
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, but which can also develop in the tongue, like Stuart.
NHS England is partnering with life sciences company BioNTech to help identify potentially eligible patients to refer to Clatterbridge or the other NHS hospitals running the clinical trial.
Clatterbridge has pioneered the study of cancer vaccines, including for head and neck cancer patients, in a programme led by Professor Christian Ottensmeier, CCC’s Director of Clinical Research.
Prof Ottensmeier said: “The NHS Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad is a great way for patients across the country to be able to access these very exciting therapies, which we are hopeful could bring a new era of personalised treatments that can be very successful in tackling different forms of cancer.
“A number of our patients have had the benefit of accessing these cutting-edge therapies for the past few years and we are encouraged by the responses we are seeing. Research into personalised cancer treatments is vital to push the boundaries of knowledge in this field.”
This is the third cancer vaccine trial to be run through the Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad, which has already helped refer around 550 patients to trials of vaccines for bowel and skin cancers.
Prof 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, offering renewed hope of holding the disease at bay.
“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.”
