Personalized cancer vaccines are a few years away from regulators' approval and being available for the public, BioNTech co-founders Uğur Şahin, MD, PhD, and Özlem Türeci, MD, told the BBC Oct. 16.
Dr. Şahin and Dr. Türeci, who teamed up with Pfizer early in the COVID-19 pandemic to develop an mRNA-based vaccine, have been researching cancer treatments for 30 years. Dr. Şahin said cancer vaccines will be ready "before 2030."
"We feel a cure for cancer or to changing cancer patients' lives is in our grasp," Dr. Türeci told the BBC. "As scientists, we are always hesitant to say, 'We will have a cure for cancer.' We have a number of breakthroughs and we will continue to work on them."
This follows the rough timeline other researchers have pointed to as other drugmakers are ramping up efforts to develop a cancer vaccine. On Oct. 12, Moderna and Merck said they are partnering under a $250 million agreement to develop, manufacture and sell personalized cancer vaccine candidates.