Cancer vaccines are just around the corner

If a cancer vaccine would be available, would you take it? For many of us, the answer is an easy ‘Yes’. Consider for a moment that there will be an estimated 1.7 million new cases of cancer this year in the United States, and over 600,000 Americans will lose their life to the disease.

The economic cost of cancer is staggering. The direct cost of medical care associated with cancer in 2015 was $80 B, and the indirect costs to the American Economy is estimated to be between $100 B and $150 B per year. Given these numbers it’s safe to assume that governments would mandate, or at the very least strongly incentivize and encourage, the widespread use of a cancer vaccine, if it were available.

So how close are we to a cancer vaccine?

Researchers at Stanford University think they have found a solution and have seen very encouraging results in tests on mice. By boosting the immune system with at least two immune-stimulating agents, a reduction in the size of tumors and number of tumors have been observed. A small human trial with 15 patients suffering from low-grade lymphoma is currently underway. The medical world is eagerly awaiting the completion of the clinical trial. Even under the best circumstances, the earliest this would be available to the public is at least 2-3 years.

There are other teams researching cancer vaccines worldwide. CimVax is a lung cancer vaccine and treatment that was developed in Cuba over a decade ago and has been available to Cuban citizens since 2011. With the recent improvement in US-Cuban relations, CimVax is currently undergoing American clinical trials that, if successful, will pave the way for the availability of CimVax in the US.

Are any cancer vaccines available today?

At present there are at least two cancer vaccines approved for use in the US. The first is known as Sipuleucel-T (Provenge®) and it has been approved since 2010 for some men who suffer from prostate cancer. Another FDA approved cancer vaccine is T-VEC (Imlygic®) which has been available since 2015 to treat some types of melanoma.

Until a comprehensive vaccine or cure is developed for all types of cancer, the most effective means of prevention will remain the lifestyle choices we make.