'Holy grail' of cancer vaccines one step closer

Therapeutic vaccines have fewer side effects than conventional cancer therapies, acccording to a cancer expert. Photo / Natalie Slade

A cancer vaccine has been approved in the United States, boosting New Zealand trials already underway for the "holy grail" of treatments.

The US Food and Drug Administration last week approved Provenge - the world's first approved therapeutic cancer vaccine - which is given to prostate cancer patients after their tumours are detected.

Wellington's Malaghan Institute of Medical Research director, Professor Graham Le Gros, said today New Zealand's own research into cancer vaccines had got "tantalisingly close" to achieving its promises.

A vaccine for a brain tumour was halfway through a trial, while a vaccine for melanoma had been developed and was awaiting trial, Professor Le Gros said.

He said therapeutic vaccines spur a body's immune system to attack a developing cancer, and have fewer side effects than conventional cancer therapies.

They could eventually work against even drug-resistant cancers, he said.

"The potential is there to really get rid of any cancer," Professor Le Gros said, calling the approach the "holy grail" of cancer treatments.

But Provenge, the US vaccine, costs almost $100,000 per treatment.

"That's way too expensive for worldwide consumption," he said.

He said if the US vaccine boosted interest and funding into research worldwide, effective treatments could be widely available in two or three years.

"There's a lot of money going into drug chemotherapy. If that same money was put into [vaccine] therapy, it could be two or three years. Things can change quickly.

"It's just a little bit complicated to manipulate the immune system, but we're moving closer."