SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – The founders of BioNTech believe they're getting close to a cure for cancer — something researchers have been working on for years.
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Dr. Mark Cameron, an immunologist and professor at Case Western Reserve in Ohio is working on a clinical trial for a cancer vaccine. He told KCBS Radio he's "reasonably optimistic."
"BioNTech is expecting results by 2030, that sounds about right," Cameron said. "Some of this is going quite fast, like the development of mRNA vaccine platforms, some things will take a lot more time, like the clinical studies and trials that are ongoing right now, designing the vaccine for the patient or particular cancer and the regulatory processes that we have to go through."
He said the process, workflow and intent of the cancer vaccine is similar to that of the COVID-19 vaccine. "Instead of teaching our immune systems to attack this virus and prevent severe COVID-19 infections, in these cases we are instructing our immune system to recognize and attack the cancer cells that are within a growing tumor," he explained.
According to Cameron, cancer vaccines are already being used in studies to help extend people's lives with prostate cancer, as well as clinical trials to diminish the possibility that those at risk develop cancer later in life.
"Those trials are showing promise already, so hopefully the good news continues and that can really help the acceptance and the knowledge of these vaccines," Cameron said.
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