Development of a new type of preventive cancer vaccine is generating funding for biotechnology firms and hope for new therapies. The first such vaccine to come to market was Dendreon’s Provenge, which won FDA approval in 2010 for the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer and is customized for each patient. The new approach seeks to treat people who already have cancer by injecting them with antigens. The form in which antigens can be present in the vaccines varies and can include whole cells, peptides or DNA. This month, CureVac raised €80 milling ($103 million) to develop its prostate and lung cancer vaccines based on single-strand messenger RNA. Another type of preventive cancer vaccine, oncolytic vaccines, use live viruses to kill cancer cells. BioVex, which has an oncolytic vaccine in clinical trials, was acquired last year by Amgen for $425 million and a payout up to $575 million.

Source: Financial Times