A phase 3 trial shows that this vaccine, which is not really a vaccine, reduces the progression of the disease. It is a French biotech, based in Nantes, which manufactures it.
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More than 44% of lung cancer patients were still alive one year after taking the vaccine developed by the French company Ose Immunotherapeutics, according to the results of a clinical trial published Monday September 11 in the journal Annals of Oncology. What do we know about this new treatment which works like a vaccine?
>> Therapeutic vaccine against lung cancer: this “really opens up great hopes”, assures a cancer specialist
Tedopi is therefore a therapeutic vaccine. These are immunotherapy injections which will boost the immune system and teach it to defend itself against cancer cells.
In their laboratory, researchers select five proteins that resemble the patient’s tumor. Then, they choose antigens that resemble these proteins and which will trigger the immune response. T lymphocytes, which are the killer cells of the immune system, will recognize tumor cells and will have enough strength to eliminate them.
The study published in the journal Annals of Oncology, shows that the Tedopi vaccine reduces the risk of death by more than 40% compared to chemotherapy, which represents an average survival gain of around three and a half months. There are also three times fewer side effects, and therefore a better quality of life for these patients.
Other types of cancer may respond to treatment
This vaccine is not intended for all patients with lung cancer, only for the most serious cases, those who recur, with metastases, and who resist all existing treatments but who have already reacted positively to a immunotherapy. This represents between 5,000 and 7,000 patients in France, according to the author of this study, Professor Benjamin Besse. The Nantes biotech which manufactures this vaccine targets 100,000 patients per year worldwide. But Tedopi still needs to be tested in a new trial early next year before applying for marketing authorization in 2027.
Tedopi is also being tested against pancreatic cancer with metastasis and against relapsed ovarian cancer. The trial is in phase 2 with, again, promising results. Other laboratories are developing this type of therapeutic vaccine which acts on the immune system. Moderna and Merk announced good preliminary results for their vaccine against melanoma, a very aggressive skin cancer. Combined with an anti-cancer drug and after surgery, their vaccine reduces the recurrence and mortality rate by 44%.