The University and Polytechnic Hospital La Fe of Valencia and the Provincial Hospital Consortium of Castellón have already administered the vaccine that is being tested internationally against non-small cell lung cancerthat is, the most common lung tumor and the leading cause of cancer death worldwide.
The vaccine being studied is BNT116, administered alone or in combination with another drug, cemiplimab. Its aim is to find out whether the combination of two types of immunotherapy is safe and more effective than the exclusive use of cemiplimab, which is the basis of current treatment.
“The vaccine has a design comparable to that of the COVID-19 vaccines, that is, it is a vaccine that contains six different RNAs against six tumor antigens“Thanks to part of the genetic material of a virus, instructions are introduced into the body to produce new immune responses against the tumor by the cells themselves and at the same time increase the existing ones,” explained La Fe oncologist and researcher at IIS La Fé, Oscar Juan.
The head of the Medical Oncology Department of the Provincial Hospital of Castellón, Alfredo Sánchez, added that “to the already known high probability of benefit for patients with high expression of a biomarker (PD-1), this trial adds the administration of the BNT116 vaccine, which aims to increase the patient’s immune response. The combination of the vaccine with an anti-PDL1, in this case cemiplimab, can increase the response options and survival extension in a subgroup of patients with advanced lung cancer.
In summary, as Dr. Óscar Juan points out, “it is about strengthening the person’s immune response against the tumor with the aim of eliminating tumor cells in a way similar to what happens with infectious diseases, achieving a lasting reaction and with less toxicity, preserving healthy cells unlike chemotherapy.
Clinical trial in seven countries
The research is being promoted by the pharmaceutical company Regeneron with the collaboration of BioNTech and is being conducted in 55 centers in Georgia, Germany, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, the United States and Spain.
In Spain, there are open patient recruitment processes in Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga, Pamplona and the Valencian Community, especially in La Fe and the IVO in Valencia, as well as in the Provincial Hospital Consortium of Castellón.
To participate in the research, the patient must meet very specific requirements defined in the clinical trial, but unlike other studies, this one explores the effectiveness of the treatment in different scenarios: advanced disease (when the cancer has spread outside the lung) at other earlier stages where the chances of cure are greater.
In total, it is planned to recruit around 100 people with this type of lung cancer worldwide; they will receive BNT116 by intravenous injection and cemiplimab by intravenous infusion every three weeks.
The first La Fe patient was treated in November 2023, and several other patients have since received the vaccine. The investigation is scheduled for to be extended until 2027.
For the director of the Valencia La Fe health department, José Luis Poveda, “the participation of La Fe in this promising trial demonstrates the hospital’s commitment to research and development of new treatments against cancer.”
The director of the Provincial Hospital of Castellón, Matías Real, expresses the same line, affirming that this research “gives patients access to the most advanced therapeutic options against lung cancer.”
