The BioNTech laboratory has announced that it is working on a cancer treatment based on messenger RNA. It could be marketed as early as 2026.
- The BioNTech laboratory is working on a treatment based on messenger RNA to treat cancer.
- The principle of this treatment is to strengthen the immune system in order to make it capable of fighting cancer.
- It could be marketed as early as 2026.
This could revolutionize cancer treatment. On Wednesday March 20, BioNTech, a German laboratory, announced its objective for 2026: to market a first cancer treatment based on messenger RNA. This technology made the company known during the Covid-19 pandemic, because it created one of the vaccines based on messenger RNA.
Messenger RNA to treat cancer: around ten trials in progress
“BioNTech’s vision for oncology is to bring new therapies to patients and address the continuum of cancer treatment, from start to finishspecifies the company in a communicated. Addressing the root causes of cancer treatment failure, such as cancer heterogeneity and interindividual variability, is at the heart of its strategy.” Currently, ten phase II and III trials are underway to continue the development of these treatments. In parallel with the objective of first commercialization in 2026, the company wishes to obtain ten treatment authorizations by 2030. She is working on different types of therapies, vaccines and immunotherapies for several cancers: prostate, head and neck, ovarian, lung or even colorectal cancer and melanoma.
Cancer treatment: what is messenger RNA?
The common point of these different treatments and vaccines will be the use of messenger RNA. “Messenger RNA (or mRNA) are like these copies, molecules responsible for transmitting the information coded in our precious genome, to allow the synthesis of proteins necessary for the functioning of our cells.explain Inserm. As part of a vaccine or treatment, the idea is to administer a specific messenger RNA to train the immune system to fight the pathogen or, in this case, cancer cells.
Several companies use messenger RNA to fight cancer
BioNtech is not the only laboratory to use this technology to develop innovative treatments against cancer. At the beginning of 2023, Moderna, one of the German company’s competitors, launched phase III of a clinical trial devoted to a messenger RNA vaccine used against melanoma, a skin cancer. Last December, Stéphane Bancel, director of the group, declared that it could be approved as early as 2025 for marketing, in an interview with L’AFP. The United States Medicines Agency has classified the treatment as “therapies innovative”which promotes the acceleration of its development.
Check out our digital video work,
only an account creation is required to access it.
