An experimental, individualized therapeutic cancer vaccine that uses messenger RNA (mRNA) to treat pancreatic cancer continues to show potential in a small patient group. Follow-up results from a phase 1 clinical trial show that nearly 90% of people whose immune systems responded to the vaccine were still alive up to six years after receiving the last treatment. The five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is around 13%, according to the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Statistics 2026 report.
“These early results show this new immunotherapy approach has the potential to make a difference for one of the deadliest cancers,” says Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) physician-scientist Vinod Balachandran, MD, the trial’s principal investigator and Director of the Olayan Center for Cancer Vaccines at MSK (OCCV). “The latest data from this small study suggest vaccines can meaningfully stimulate the immune system in some patients with pancreatic cancer — and these patients continue to do well years after vaccination.”
The phase 1 study, led by Dr. Balachandran, was testing autogene cevumeran (BNT122, RO7198457), a therapeutic mRNA cancer vaccine that is being developed and researched by BioNTech and Genentech, a member of the Roche Group.