SALT LAKE CITY — A new vaccine has been called a groundbreaking development in women's health and a possible game changer in the fight against cancer. Anixa Biosciences is the company developing the vaccine they hope will be able to prevent breast cancer.
"The vaccine is designed prphylactic which is similar to many of the vaccines we use for infectious diseases," says Dr. Armit Kumar, the CEO of Anixa Bioscience. "You give it to a patient before they have breast cancer, and the plan is to prevent the onset of breast cancer."
The vaccine is currently in clinical trials at the Cleveland Clinic and supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense. "Right now, we've only tested it on 25 women," Dr. Kumar explains. "The data is looking very good, and we are planning a phase two study to begin next year."
Dr. Kumar says the vaccine targets the most aggressive and deadliest form of cancer: triple negative breast cancer.
According to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, breast cancer impacts 1 in 8 women in the United States. Utah ranked fourth in the nation for late stage breast cancer cases between 2017 and 2021.
Dr. Kumar says the plan is initially to target high risk women. "These are women that have already had breast cancer, have gone through their treatment, including surgery, but are at high risk for a recurrence of the breast cancer."
According to researchers, the data shows the vaccine can prevent other types of breast cancer and point out that the vaccine is designed to target a key protein in cancer cells. When breast cancer develops, the vaccine instructs the immune system to fight off the tumor and keep it from growing.
Dr. Kumar says they have seen no major side effects in the first phase of testing, but adds it will be years before the vaccine is widely available. "This vaccine has been in development for over 20 years already, and now it's in it's human testing for about three years."
