Breakthrough cancer vaccine could be available by 2030, say scientists behind Covid jab

CANCER vaccines could be given to patients in the next decade, the team behind the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid jab predict.

Profs Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci said the development and success of their coronavirus vaccine has boosted their work on one for cancer.

Prof Tureci told the BBC: “We have learned how to better, faster manufacture vaccines. We have learned how the immune system reacts.

“This will definitely accelerate also our cancer vaccine."

“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."

She said the developments also helped regulators deal with vaccines.

Asked when cancer jabs could be available, Prof Sahin said it could be “before 2030”.

The scientist couple co-founded BioNTech in Mainz, Germany, in 2008, and worked to pioneer cancer immunotherapies tailored to individual patients.

Their use of mRNA technology came into its own in the pandemic, and the couple said that experience has helped to spur on their work.