If the results from 230 American patients are validated, the immunotherapy could be approved in about 18 months.
- CellVax Therapeutics
- Jan 30
- 2 min read
Updated: Feb 18
CellVax is featured in Forbes Tech Brazil. Read more.
Brazilian-Developed Cancer Vaccine Enters Testing Phase in the U.S.
The project led by Fernando Thomé Kreutz, a medical graduate from UFRGS in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and Ph.D. in biotechnology from the University of Alberta, Canada, began 25 years ago.
According to the National Cancer Institute, 71,000 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2024. The disease claims approximately 15,000 lives in the U.S. each year. Despite this challenging scenario, physician and scientist Fernando Thomé Kreutz has been dedicated to researching potential solutions for the condition.
“I have been working in cancer drug and vaccine research and development for 25 years,” says Kreutz, the scientist behind the first therapeutic vaccine for prostate cancer approved for testing in the United States. “If the results from the 230 American patients are validated, as they were in Brazil, the immunotherapy could be approved in about 18 months,” he explains.
Kreutz recalls that the discovery process followed the kind of unexpected path often seen in scientific breakthroughs. “I was running an experiment and had three leftover test tubes. So, I decided to run one more negative control. To my surprise, what should have been a negative result turned out positive. After further investigation, I realized it was possible to modify tumor cells so they could activate the immune system.”
According to the researcher, the therapeutic vaccine takes a personalized approach, increasing the chances of treatment success since “just like the human body, every cancer is different.” Kreutz explains: “In the lab, a sample of the tumor is fragmented, and the tumor cells are cultivated for modification. The altered particles are then exposed to radiation and finally incorporated into the vaccine formulation.”
"This project could truly become a new global standard of treatment."
During trials in Brazil, 36.8% of patients in the control group experienced disease recurrence. Among those treated with personalized immunotherapy, this rate dropped to 11.8%. Additionally, there was an 8.5% reduction in mortality.
For now, the medication is designed for prostate cancer, but other types of cancer may benefit from this technology in the future. “This project could truly become a new global standard of treatment,” concludes Kreutz.
Author: Carolina de Tilia
Read the original article at: Forbes