Biotechnology Companies Focused on Cancer Vaccines: 11 Worthy of Your Attention

The world of cancer treatment is witnessing significant strides with the development of innovative cancer vaccine immunotherapies. These advancements are moving towards personalization, adaptive designs to tumour mutations, combination with existing immunotherapies, and novel delivery technologies like mRNA and nanotechnology to boost immune efficacy.

UK-based Infinitopes Leads with Machine Learning Workflows

Infinitopes, a spinout of the University of Oxford, has a discovery platform that utilizes machine learning workflows. This platform has shown superior tumour protection compared to known antigens, marking a promising step forward in cancer vaccine development.

Elicio Therapeutics and Nouscom Advance Pipeline

Elicio Therapeutics, a US-based biotech, has four cancer vaccine candidates in its pipeline. These include ELI-002 for KRAS-driven cancers, ELI-007 targeting mBRAF in gastrointestinal (GI) tumors, and ELI-008 targeting mTP53 in GI tumors.

Nouscom, an immunotherapy company based in Switzerland and Italy, is developing engineered viral vector vaccines against cancer. Its lead vaccine candidate NOUS-209 has shown well-tolerated and generated potent and broad immune responses in phase 1b studies in gastrointestinal (GI) tumors.

VacV Biotherapeutics and Candel Therapeutics in Preclinical and Phase 3 Trials

VacV Biotherapeutics, a spin-out of Queen Mary University of London, has an oncolytic virus vaccine platform to induce long-term responses against tumour antigens. Its lead candidate VacV001 is being investigated in preclinical trials for its therapeutic efficacy for glioblastoma and pancreatic cancer.

Candel Therapeutics, a biotech based in Massachusetts, U.S., is testing its phase 3 cancer vaccine candidate CAN-2409 in prostate cancer.

Immunomic Therapeutics and OSE Immunotherapeutics in Clinical Trials

Immunomic Therapeutics is conducting clinical trials for its DNA-based vaccine ITI-3000, a plasmid DNA vaccine targeting the large T antigen (LT) of Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV). Its lead vaccine candidate ITOP1 is a precision-targeted, immunologically durable, off-the-shelf cancer vaccine designed to prevent disease recurrence in first-line patients with surgically resectable cancers.

OSE Immunotherapeutics, a French vaccine company, has Tedopi (OSE2101) as its most advanced candidate, which is awaiting approval for the treatment of people with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have previously been treated with a checkpoint inhibitor.

Other Notable Developments

Other key recent developments include personalized neoantigen vaccines, mRNA vaccines, dendritic cell vaccines, and synthetic DNA vaccines, targeting different cancer types such as melanoma, lung, bowel cancers, and others.

Personalized neoantigen vaccines: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's updated personalized cancer vaccine NeoVax MI, which targets patient-specific tumour neoantigens, has shown improved immune responses and safety in melanoma patients compared to prior versions.
mRNA vaccines: University of Florida researchers demonstrated that an experimental mRNA vaccine combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors boosted tumour-fighting immune responses in mouse models across multiple tumour types.
Dendritic cell-based cancer vaccines: A team from Madrid developed a vaccine priming dendritic cells with tumour fragments, generating long-term immune memory in mice with melanoma and bowel tumours.
Synthetic DNA vaccines: Companies like the one led by Aurisicchio are moving synthetic DNA vaccines against lung cancer into clinical trials by late 2025. They also focus on using circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) biomarkers to adapt vaccine design dynamically, addressing tumour evolution and enabling personalized, responsive immunotherapy.

Looking Back and Moving Forward

Cancer vaccines have been around since the 1980s, with the first-ever anti-cancer preventative treatments being vaccines for hepatitis B, which can cause liver cancer. In 1990, Bacillus Calmette-Guérin - a vaccine for tuberculosis - became the first immunotherapy to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of early-stage bladder cancer.

Today, these advancements are paving the way for more effective, tailored immunotherapies for a range of cancer indications. Companies like Imugene, developing an oncolytic virus therapy called Vaxinia, and Scancell, with the vaccine technology ImmunoBody for the prevention of COVID-19, are contributing to this progress.

As these approaches move from early-stage development to clinical trials and, hopefully, to widespread use, patients with various types of cancer may soon benefit from personalized, adaptive, and combination immunotherapies that offer new hope for effective treatment and improved quality of life.

The breakthroughs in cancer treatment are evident as biotech companies like Infinitopes, VacV Biotherapeutics, and Candel Therapeutics conduct preclinical and phase 3 trials for their cancer vaccine candidates.
Immunomic Therapeutics and OSE Immunotherapeutics are currently involved in clinical trials for their DNA-based and plasmid DNA vaccines, respectively, targeting various cancer types such as Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
The advancement in immunotherapy is not limited to cancer vaccines, with personalized neoantigen vaccines, mRNA vaccines, dendritic cell vaccines, and synthetic DNA vaccines targeting diverse cancer types such as melanoma, lung, and bowel cancers.
The strides in science and technology have a promising future for patients with various medical-conditions, as they may soon benefit from personalized, adaptive, and combination immunotherapies like the ones developed by companies such as Imugene and Scancell, offering hope for effective treatment and improved health-and-wellness.