Cancer
Oncolytic viruses, personalised mRNA vaccines, engineered T cells and repurposed drugs. Stages here apply to specific cancers; a result in one tumour type does not carry over to others.
9 approaches: 4 in human trials, 5 experimental. Grades from A to D describe the human evidence; how we rate.
| Approach | Stage | Evidence | One-line verdict | Reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pelareorep (oncolytic reovirus) — pancreatic cancerCancer | Phase 3, pancreatic cancer | Cresponse rates only | Response rates in later-line settings beat the approved comparator, but that is not randomised survival data and the Phase 3 has not reported. | Jul 2026 |
| Individualised neoantigen therapy (intismeran autogene, mRNA-4157/V940) — melanomaCancer | Phase 3, positive topline | BPhase 3 unpublished | Phase 3 beat Keytruda alone on recurrence, but only a press release exists, hazard ratios are unpublished and overall survival is immature. | Sep 2026 |
| Personalized mRNA cancer vaccine (autogene cevumeran) — pancreaticCancer | Phase 1/2, pancreatic cancer | Csmall early trial | Nearly 90% of patients whose immune system responded were alive up to six years later in a small early trial, and randomised survival results have not been reported. | Jul 2026 |
| CAR-T against solid tumorsCancer | Phase 1/2 | Cearly responses | Encouraging early responses in gastric and some childhood tumours, but it is not curative for most solid cancers. | Jul 2026 |
| Creatine to potentiate immunotherapyCancer | Preclinical | Dmouse study | Improved anti-tumour immune signalling in mouse melanoma and has not been tested in people with cancer. | Jul 2026 |
| RNA-triggered chromatin shredding (CRISPR-Cas12a2) for p53-mutant cancersCancer | Preclinical, lab only | Dlab only | Selectively killed p53-mutant cells in the lab, and nobody yet knows how to deliver it to every tumour cell in a living body. | Jul 2026 |
| Ivermectin (repurposed / topical) for skin lesions & cancerCancer | Preclinical, case reports | Dcase reports | Lab and mouse data plus uncontrolled case reports, no controlled human trial, and self-treating melanoma risks a fatal delay. | Jul 2026 |
| Helicobacter pylori eradication for gastric cancer preventionCancer | Approved treatment, prevention benefit population-dependent | BRCT incidence data in high-incidence populations; no all-cause mortality benefit when pooled | Eradication clearly lowers gastric cancer incidence where the bacterium and the cancer are common, but the largest pooled analysis shows no all-cause mortality benefit, and no country with Austria's incidence screens for it. | Oct 2026 |
| Tumor-colonising bacteria as cancer therapy (Ewingella americana)Cancer | Preclinical, mice only | Dmice only; safety claim contradicted | Beat two standard drugs in mice in a single unreplicated study, and the strain it proposes to inject is a documented opportunistic pathogen in exactly the immunocompromised patients who would receive it. | Oct 2026 |
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