GSK, the tenth biggest pharmaceutical company in the world, is investing £50 million to establish the GSK–Oxford Cancer Immuno-Prevention Programme, aimed at advancing the development of a preventative cancer vaccine. This builds on GSK’s £30 million, five–year collaboration to establish the Oxford-GSK Institute of Molecular and Computational Medicine, which focuses on neurological research.
The three–year collaboration will bring together expertise from four University of Oxford departments: clinical trials, immuno–oncology, vaccinology, and pre–cancer research. Vice–Chancellor Irene Tracey called this partnership: “a step forward in cancer research.”
Sarah Blagden, the head of the program said: “Working together, we will greatly accelerate translational research that could lead to the development of vaccines to prevent cancer in the future.”
This research explores a novel approach to a preventative cancer vaccine by targeting precancerous cells before they progress. By intervening early, the strategy aims to use vaccines or targeted medicines to activate the body’s immune system and halt cancer development.
“The purpose of the vaccine is not to vaccinate against established cancer, but to actually vaccinate against that pre–cancer stage,” explained Professor Blagden. The ultimate goal of the cancer vaccine is to harness the body’s natural defenses to fight cancer at its earliest, most vulnerable stage.
The approach to this cancer vaccine builds on Oxford’s expertise in identifying and sequencing neoantigens, tumor–specific proteins that trigger an immune response. By recognising these markers, the immune system could be trained to eliminate precancerous cells before they progress.
This partnership seeks to harness the combined expertise of GSK and Oxford to fast–track the translation of research breakthroughs into tangible patient treatments with a cancer vaccine. Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle emphasized the importance of such collaborations, stating: “Through our world–leading universities and businesses working in lockstep, like Oxford and GSK are doing here, we can harness science and innovation to transform what’s possible when it comes to diagnosing and treating this disease.”
Oxford is already developing several preventive cancer vaccines, including LynchVax for those with Lynch syndrome, OvarianVax to target early–stage ovarian cancer, and LungVax to prevent or delay lung cancer in high–risk individuals.
