GSK backs £50m Oxford University cancer vaccine programme

GSK has teamed up with the University of Oxford on a programme that will try to identify the molecular changes in cells in precancerous stages that could form the basis of vaccines to prevent full-blown cancer from developing.

The pharma group has pledged up to £50 million ($62.5 million) in funding over three years for the initiative, which builds on work carried out over the last few years by researchers at Oxford trying to tease out the mechanisms behind cells becoming malignant.

That process can take many years, so spotting a targetable change in the early stages could potentially result in a vaccine that could prevent someone at risk from developing cancer at all. It focuses on neoantigens – proteins that appear on the surface of the cell because of cancer-associated mutations within its DNA – that could be targeted by vaccines.

Called the GSK-Oxford Cancer Immuno-Prevention Programme, the project will see scientists from both organisations carrying out translational research

Oxford scientists – working with their counterparts at the Francis Crick Institute and University College London – have already applied some of these principles to the development of LungVax, which is also based on neoantigens and described as the world's first vaccine designed to prevent lung cancer in people with a high risk of the disease, and the related OvarianVax project.

The new project will allow the researchers to tap into GSK expertise in areas like medicine discovery and development, as well as artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities that will help to accelerate the programme. And while the main aim of the project is vaccine discovery, it could also lead to new targeted cancer medicines, according to the partners.

The programme will be led by Professor Sarah Blagden in Oxford's Department of Oncology, alongside Dr Timothy Clay and Dr Ramon Kemp at GSK.

"We are delighted to be collaborating with GSK in this important area of research, making sure that Oxford's fantastic science benefits patients as quickly as possible," remarked Prof Blagden.

"Working together, we will greatly accelerate translational research that could lead to the development of vaccines to prevent cancer in the future."

GSK and Oxford University are already collaborating on other projects, notably including the similarly structured GSK-Oxford Institute of Molecular and Computational Medicine, which was formed in 2021 to apply technologies like functional genomics and machine learning to the understanding of disease processes.

Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle hailed the new programme as "world-leading universities and businesses working in lockstep [to] harness science and innovation to transform what's possible when it comes to diagnosing and treating this disease."