Everything To Explore About Russia’s Cancer Vaccine: Hope Or Hype?

Do you know that, nearly 1 in 2 people – around 40.5% of men and women – will be diagnosed with cancer in their whole lifetime? Unfortunately, despite advances in the medical field, there is still no proven cure for this disease. However, in December 2024, Russia announced a groundbreaking mRNA-based personalized cancer vaccine, through which they claim that cancer can be treated and will be available for free for all Russian cancer patients by early 2025. So, can cancer be treated permanently and does this vaccine initiate a new era in oncology?

Russia’s Approach to Cancer Vaccines

Russia was significantly investing in their medical field and with long-term research, finally in December 2024, they declared that they had invented the cancer vaccine. What is this cancer vaccine? mRNA. mRNA vaccine has the capability of creating a personalised cancer treatment through the genetic analysis of the tumours of the patients. All these analyses have been done through the application of artificial intelligence.

So how do these analyses work? Well, the mRNA vaccine is used to train the immune system of the cancer patient so that the cancer cells can be detected and attacked by producing specific antibodies. Chemotherapy, the traditional vaccine for cancer, indiscriminately destroys both the healthy and cancerous cells of the body. As a result, widespread cell destruction throughout the body shows different side effects like nausea, fatigue, hair loss and so on.

However, compared to the traditional vaccine, the mRNA vaccine is more targeted, it only destroys the cancerous cells and identifies the specific tumour antigens personally for different cancer types. Although, it works for only some specific types of cancers and there is no detailed data published about the development of this vaccine.

However, the announcement of launching the vaccine in early 2025 was made by the head of the Radiology Medical Research Centre of the Ministry of Health, Andrey Kaprin. In the announcement, he stated, “This vaccine aims to treat cancer patients rather than prevent tumour formation.” The dose of this personalised vaccine will cost around ₽300,000 (around $2,869).

Cancer rates in Russia

The country which has made this groundbreaking invention of a cancer vaccine is suffering from cancer because it is the second-leading cause of death. In 2022, around 192 deaths per 100,000 of the population of Russia happened due to cancer. Over 635,000 new cases of cancer were reported in the same year.

Forwarding to 2023, around 674,000 Russians were diagnosed with cancer. However, the most prevalent cancers in Russia are breast cancer, colorectal cancer and lung cancer. These types of cancers increased in Russia over the decades increasing the mortality rate. In 2020, lung cancer was the common cause of cancer-related deaths in Russia and colorectal cancer was the second cancer increasing the mortality rate in the country.

Clinical studies of vaccines for cancers around the world

In 2022, around 20 million new cases of cancer and 9.7 million deaths were reported due to cancers according to WHO. Because of the growing burden of cancer, the development of cancer vaccines has gained significant momentum globally. Different clinical studies have been undertaken to invent a cure for cancer.

Doctor Naveen Sanchety, the Director and Head of Oncosurgery of Sarvodaya Healthcare of Faridaband, stated, “mRNA-based cancer vaccines are being researched in various clinical trials across the world. In the United States, interim results of a phase I trial have reported promising data for Cure vac Vaccine, highlighting the potential of mRNA-based platforms in the management of aggressive cancers like glioblastoma.”

In the UK, a personalised cancer vaccine program was also initiated by NHS in 2024. In this program, an initiative was taken through cutting-edge mRNA technology to develop a customised vaccine so that precise medicine can be developed to identify and destroy the cancer cells and permanently stop the cancer formation. A collaboration between NHS and BuoNTech aims to provide around 10,000 cancer patients with personalised cancer vaccine treatments by the end of 2030.

In the US, BioNTech collaborated with Roche to test the mRNA vaccine on pancreatic cancer. This trial shows some promising results in the early stages. China is also investing in vaccine-based immunotherapies. They are testing neoantigen vaccines that is also customised vaccines for cancers that can target specific cancer mutations.

Challenges and Ethical Concerns of mRNA Cancer Vaccine

mRNA vaccine might have shown some promising results in recent years and Russia is also claiming they will launch it for qualified cancer patients of Russia, there are still some challenges and ethical issues around it that need to be addressed.

First of all, there long-term effectiveness of mRNA in curing cancer has limited data because the development process is not fully disclosed yet. Henceforth, the long-term effects of this vaccine on cancer patients are uncertain. Moreover, targeting only the cancerous cells without triggering excessive immune responses through AI might be hard and this can cause different side effects on the body of the cancer patients.

Russia has stated that the cost per vaccine dose will be around ₽300,000 raising ethical concerns regarding accessibility and healthcare equity. The low-income group people of Russia might not be able to access the vaccine doses and this can create inequalities. Although the Russian government has stated that they will provide vaccines for free there are still some concerns. Will everyone become able to avail of the vaccine or only some specific areas will be covered?

mRNA is still under clinical process and there is no data regarding the potential risks that might the patients face. In this case, informed consent from every patient will be taken by Russia before applying the vaccine. 

Doctor Mohit Saxena, the Consultant & Head Of the Department of Medical Oncology of Manipal Hospital Gurugram shared his opinion on the potential risks of the mRNA vaccine. He said, “The development of cancer vaccines for other cancers is still in the experimental phase, and further studies are required to support or reject the claim.” Henceforth, it can be said that Russia’s step towards mRNA is just a small step and further research and clinical trials are required to fight against cancer.

The potential of mRNA cancer vaccine

The mRNA vaccines have a different potential for curing vaccines in future. First of all, customizability can be highly beneficial for cancer patients because it can treat patients according to their tumour profile. AI has been advancing in different fields and if it gets advanced in Oncology, it can invent vaccines for different types of cancers. However, it needs continuous research and investment to bring revolution in cancer care and make the vaccine accessible to all people.

We need to remember that mRNA is in its trial phase and it cannot cure every type of cancer. Henceforth, for now, we should focus on our lifestyles to avoid cancers. Spreading awareness of how cancers form and can impact individuals and their entire families. Moreover, there are different standard treatments like chemotherapy, surgery, radiotherapy and more through which cancers can be treated in their initial stage, we need to trust these treatments.

FAQ

Follow us on