AACR roundup: BioNTech shows personalized neoantigen vaccines are durable

mRNA may have found its next act, with long-term follow-up data from BioNTech showing that a vaccine encoding neoantigens leads to durable responses in one of the most difficult-to-treat cancer indications.

In a Phase I trial, high-magnitude T cells specific to neoantigens encoded in the autogene cevumeran vaccine were elicited in half (8/16) of the pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients treated after tumor resection. The patients were also sequentially treated with PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab...