In biotech news today, the maker of a successful Covid vaccine based on mRNA technology is hoping to replicate that success for cancer, yes cancer. That vaccine maker is BioNTech, the German company that made the Covid vaccine mass-produced by strategic partner Pfizer.

• BioNTech has begun Phase 2 trials of a cancer vaccine it’s made named BNT111. The first out of 120 trial subjects has been dosed with the vaccine to see if it’ll work. 

• At that, it seems that BioNTech is very ambitious such that shortly after making a Covid vaccine it’s hoping to replicate that success with a cancer vaccine. For reference, there are currently only two vaccines approved by the US FDA to tackle certain types of cancer.

• BNT111 is a vaccine candidate targeting Advanced Melanoma in humans. Melanoma is a form of skin cancer that begins in the cells that control the pigment of the human skin. 

• For the trial, BioNTech has gotten approval to enroll 120 patients across the EU, UK, US, and Australia.

• “We must not forget, that cancer is also a global health threat, even worse than the current pandemic,“ said Özlem Türeci, M.D., Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of BioNTech. To the unaware, Türeci led the team that made BioNTech’s mRNA-based Covid vaccine.

• While BNT111 is targeting Advanced Melanoma, BioNTech has four other vaccine programs in its pipeline to target Prostate Cancer, HPV16+ Head and Neck Cancer, Breast Cancer, and Ovarian Cancer. For now, only BNT111 has reached Phase 2 trials.

• With ambitious vaccine programs in its pipeline, BioNTech stock (NASDAQ: BNTX) seems like a good one for those biotech investors with a high appetite for risk.

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