Cancer vaccines: will we ever learn?

Abstract

Scientists and clinicians engaged in developing therapeutic cancer vaccines cannot be anything other than troubled by the sheer number of Phase III clinical trial failures in the field. Are we inveterate optimists or do we have reason for continuing to plough our lonely furrow? In this perspective article, we answer why Phase III failures have been to the fore and highlight why the field should be optimistic given the knowledge gained from these pioneering studies and our improved understanding of how the immune system interacts with cancer.

Keywords::

• adjuvant
• antigen
• cancer vaccine
• cell based
• immunotherapy
• minimal residual disease

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors are employees of Onyvax Limited, a company developing therapeutic cancer vaccines. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.