Neoantigen vaccines are personalized cancer immunotherapies built around tumor-specific peptide sequences identified from each patient's mutated protein landscape. The platform sits at the intersection of next-gen sequencing, peptide-MHC presentation work, and lipid-nanoparticle or amphiphile delivery.
Leading programs covered on this site: BioNTech and Genentech's autogene cevumeran in pancreatic cancer (with long-term survival data), Evaxion's EVX-01 in melanoma, ELI-002 amphiphile-peptide vaccine for KRAS-mutant tumors, and earlier-stage academic work on neoantigen prediction with machine-learning prioritization. The Mel39 melanoma trial sits in the same family.
Stories here cover trial readouts, AACR and ASCO presentations, and the partnership economics. See #peptide-vaccine, #cancer-vaccine, and #mrna-vaccine for adjacent threads.
Pharmacy Times ran a Ferry Ossendorp Q&A on May 5 walking through the mechanistic case for peptide-based cancer vaccines: T cells recognize small peptides presented on the surface of tumor cells, and synthetic peptides matched to tumor antigens can be used to vaccinate the immune system to recognize and target those tumors. Ossendorp's own work showed that knowledge of a tumor's antigen profile combined with peptide vaccination can protect against very aggressive tumors in animal models. The piece sits inside a 2026 peptide-vaccine pipeline with 31 active personalized cancer-vaccine trials registered (more than dendritic-cell or RNA-vaccine platforms), the BioVaxys MVP-S survivin program heading to ASCO 2026, the Greenwich GP2/GLSI-100 FLAMINGO-01 readout, and the BriaCell Bria-IMT Phase 3.
A 2026 Asia-Pacific Journal of Clinical Oncology review of the personalized cancer vaccine pipeline counts 31 active peptide-vaccine trials — the most-used personalized vaccine platform — followed by dendritic-cell vaccines (15) and RNA vaccines (13). Phase 1 trials dominate the landscape (over 90% of studies), with US (44%) and China (24%) leading by registration count. Solid tumors (brain, pancreatic, breast) are the primary targets. Lead programs covered on this site that fit the framework: ELI-002 KRAS amphiphile vaccine (AMPLIFY-201), autogene cevumeran (BioNTech/Genentech) in pancreatic cancer, EVX-01 (Evaxion) in melanoma, GP2/GLSI-100 (Greenwich) in HER2 breast cancer, ENA101 (Enara), MVP-S (BioVaxys) in ovarian, and the multipeptide melanoma vaccination 20-year survival data.
A Nature Biotechnology paper introduced a user-defined peptide library platform that enables sensitive detection of cancer antigens — relevant for both cancer immunotherapy target identification and neoantigen vaccine design. The platform allows researchers to design peptide pools customized to specific tumor types or HLA profiles, accelerating the antigen-discovery bottleneck in personalized cancer vaccine development. Builds on the same proteomic technology stack advancing across multiple peptide-vaccine programs at BioNTech, Genentech, and emerging neoantigen biotechs.
Recent reviews and real-world observation studies aggregate the state of peptide-vaccine immunotherapy for glioblastoma. A 2024 Nature Communications real-world observational study reported clinically meaningful outcomes for personalized peptide vaccines; the UCPVax + temozolomide trial (NCT04280848) showed 97% anti-TERT immune response, 48% epitope spread, median OS 17.9 months, and 26% alive at 2 years. The peptide-vaccine modality is one of multiple approaches (mRNA, dendritic cell, neoantigen) advancing alongside immune checkpoint blockade.
Evaxion's AI-designed personalized neoantigen peptide vaccine EVX-01 combined with Keytruda produced a 75% objective response rate at 2 years in advanced melanoma patients, with 86% of vaccine targets triggering de novo T-cell responses. Data were presented April 22 at AACR 2026; 3-year follow-up expected in H2 2026. The 86% target-hit rate demonstrates AI-designed peptide neoantigen selection maturing for cancer vaccines.
Nearly half of participants in a Phase 1 trial of BioNTech/Genentech's personalized mRNA neoantigen vaccine autogene cevumeran remain alive up to six years after treatment, with T-cell responses showing no signs of waning. Eight of 16 patients produced durable CD8+ T cells targeting tumor neoantigens after nine doses, with the immune memory still detectable at six-year follow-up. A Phase 2 trial is underway.