NHS patients to join £750m search for cancer cure

THOUSANDS of NHS patients will be involved in cancer vaccine trials as part of a £750 million research project to revolutionise treatment.

BioNTech – which joined forces with Pfizer to create one of the most successful Covid vaccines – has struck a deal with ministers to set up specialist hubs in England.

It is understood the first will open in Cambridge, with 70 world-leading scientists working on the technology that uses a patient’s immune system to fight the disease.

Trials will start in September with the aim to deliver 10,000 jabs by 2030, rolling out worldwide if successful.

The technology sends an instruction to cells to produce an antigen or protein, allowing the immune system to recognise the cancer and destroy it.

Early trials in pancreatic, ovarian and testicular cancer have shown promise.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said the project would strengthen the UK’s position as ‘a leader in global life sciences’.

BioNTech founder Professor Ugur Sahin said it had the potential to help ‘hundreds of millions of people worldwide’.