Written question WQ93256

The Cancer Vaccine Launchpad (CVLP) is a platform aimed at speeding up access to personalised cancer vaccine clinical trials for people who have been diagnosed with cancer.

This is part of a wider UK partnership between UK Government and BioNTech, the global biotechnology company behind the world’s first approved mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine, that aims to provide access to new therapies for up to 10,000 patients across the UK by 2030, either in clinical trials or as authorised treatments, subject to development and approval.

Welsh patients are not part of the CVLP as this was established to help NHS England identify potentially eligible patients for studies and a mechanism to do this was already in place in Wales. BioNTech have however recently signed a separate agreement with Health and Care Research Wales (the organisation that supports research delivery across Wales), to bolster the clinical trial infrastructure here and give cancer patients greater access to clinical trials for investigational cancer vaccines.

This collaboration aims to improve the efficiency and delivery of clinical trials in Wales, and to enhance the existing system that will allow more patients to access studies for investigational cancer treatments.

BioNTech is already sponsoring a trial to evaluate a personalised cancer vaccine for colorectal cancer patients at Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff and the intention is that a portfolio of cancer vaccine trials will be conducted in Wales over the period of the agreement, including investigational treatments that are tailored to the unique mutational signature of a patient’s tumour.

As part of the Welsh agreement, Health and Care Research Wales will be responsible for ensuring the delivery of BioNTech-sponsored clinical trials in NHS organisations in Wales, and will provide a coordinated, One Wales approach to help identify clinical trial sites, recruit patients and deliver cancer treatment via clinical trials.