Overview

• The AHEAD-MERIT trial has dosed its first cohort with BNT113, recruiting advanced HPV16-positive head and neck cancer patients through NHS England’s Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad.
• BNT113 uses mRNA to encode two HPV16 oncoproteins, training the immune system to recognise and destroy tumour cells in squamous cell carcinomas expressing PD-L1.
• In this open-label, randomised study, participants will receive either BNT113 plus the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab or pembrolizumab alone as first-line therapy for unresectable, recurrent or metastatic disease.
• This marks the third personalised cancer vaccine trial run by the national Launch Pad, following earlier NHS mRNA studies in melanoma, lung and colorectal cancers coordinated by the Southampton Clinical Trials Unit.
• NHS England’s collaboration with BioNTech and support from Cancer Research UK aims to accelerate patient referrals and expand tailored immunotherapy trials to thousands more cancer patients by 2030.