Peptide vaccines — neoantigen vaccines, KRAS vaccines, multi-peptide cancer vaccines, and HLA-restricted peptide platforms — are one of the most active areas of late-stage oncology peptide work.
Lead programs covered on this site: ELI-002 amphiphile-peptide KRAS vaccine (AMPLIFY-201 Phase 3), autogene cevumeran from BioNTech and Genentech in pancreatic cancer, EVX-01 from Evaxion in melanoma, GP2 / GLSI-100 from Greenwich LifeSciences in HER2 breast cancer, ENA101 from Enara Bio, multipeptide vaccines from UCPVAX in glioblastoma, BioVaxys MVP-S (a five-peptide DPX-formulated survivin vaccine combined with pembrolizumab and cyclophosphamide in the PESCO Phase 1B/2 trial accepted for ASCO 2026 in recurrent ovarian cancer), and the Mel39 melanoma trial. Long-term survival data keeps mattering for the category.
Stories here cover trial readouts, AACR and ASCO presentations, and partnership announcements. See #neoantigen, #cancer-vaccine, and #immunotherapy for adjacent threads.
The ASCO Annual Meeting closed June 2 after a week that moved peptide and targeted-conjugate oncology from abstract to podium: Bicycle's bicyclic peptide-drug conjugate and Avacta's FAP-activated conjugate in solid tumors, Mayo's folate-receptor and BioVaxys' survivin peptide vaccines, Sapience's C/EBPβ antagonist in glioblastoma, and PSMA and lead-212 radioligands from Telix and Perspective. Attention now shifts to ADA 2026 in New Orleans and the July 23-24 PCAC compounding vote.
Mayo's randomized Phase 2 trial across 11 sites tested low-dose (825 μg) against high-dose (2.5 mg) TPIV200, a multi-epitope folate-receptor-alpha peptide vaccine adjuvanted with GM-CSF, with or without cyclophosphamide pretreatment in early-stage triple-negative breast cancer. The low dose matched the full dose on immunogenicity, cyclophosphamide pretreatment had no impact, and vaccination induced persistent polyepitope immunity. Kathryn Ruddy, Keith Knutson, and Saranya Chumsri presented the data June 1.
BioVaxys presented results from the investigator-initiated PESCO trial of maveropepimut-S (MVP-S) combined with pembrolizumab and low-dose cyclophosphamide in recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer. MVP-S is a DPX-based vaccine built from five survivin-derived peptides plus a T-helper peptide and an innate immune stimulant, designed to drive a cytotoxic T-cell response against survivin, an antigen highly expressed in ovarian tumors but nearly absent in normal tissue.
Mayo Clinic researchers led by Dr. Kathryn Ruddy will present a randomized Phase 2 trial of the folate receptor alpha (FRα) peptide vaccine TPIV200 in early-stage triple-negative breast cancer at ASCO 2026 (Abstract 536, June 1, 1:30-4:30 PM CDT). The trial dosed 80 patients with vaccine; 58 were evaluable for immunogenicity. The TPIV200 multi-epitope FRα peptide vaccine was found safe and immunogenic using a single low-dose injection without cyclophosphamide priming. FRα is overexpressed on the cell surface in breast, ovarian, and lung cancers, making it a shared-antigen vaccine target distinct from personalized neoantigen approaches. The data supports combining TPIV200 with an immune checkpoint inhibitor to extend recurrence-free or progression-free survival in TNBC — the breast cancer subtype with the highest mortality risk and fewest targeted-therapy options. The vaccine adds to the peptide cancer vaccine cohort (BioVaxys MVP-S, Dana-Farber NeoVax, Greenwich GP2) at ASCO 2026.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers led by David Reardon (Director, Center for Neuro-Oncology) and Catherine Wu (Chief, Division of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cell Therapies) presented Phase 1 data at ASCO 2026 on NeoVax — a personalized neoantigen peptide vaccine — combined with pembrolizumab in newly diagnosed glioblastoma. The study excluded dexamethasone (an immune suppressant) and added pembrolizumab to enhance anti-tumor activity. Vaccine-stimulated anti-tumor activity was still evident in some patients after one year, with vaccine-specific T cells migrating into the brain and tumors following vaccination. The MGMT-methylated patient subgroup showed median survival meaningfully exceeding historical observations, though the authors emphasized this requires cautious interpretation given the lack of a randomized comparator arm. The timing of pembrolizumab administration didn't affect immune-response stimulation, but pembrolizumab-before-NeoVax-priming may extend overall survival. NeoVax adds to the personalized neoantigen vaccine cohort (BioNTech autogene cevumeran, Moderna intismeran autogene, Evaxion EVX-01) anchoring the broader peptide cancer vaccine field.
A review article published in the International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics in May 2026 consolidates the current state of peptide-based cancer vaccines, covering antigen selection, adjuvant chemistry, and delivery platforms designed to address tumor evolution and immune escape. The review argues that despite persistent challenges around peptide stability and limited immunogenicity, the combination of nanomaterials and adjuvants has significantly enhanced immune response efficiency and targeted delivery — with applications in drug-resistant and metastatic cancers. The piece sits alongside two other May peptide vaccine reviews (WIRES Nanomedicine, Science Advances) and frames the ASCO 2026 peptide-oncology slate (BioVaxys MVP-S, BriaCell Bria-IMT, Evaxion EVX-01) as the clinical pipeline backing the review-paper momentum.
A 2026 Science Advances paper demonstrated that systematically changing the orientation and placement of a single cancer-targeting peptide within a vaccine construct leads to formulations that significantly enhance immune response. One specific vaccine design consistently outperformed others by shrinking tumors, extending animal survival, and generating larger numbers of highly active cancer-killing T-cells. The work is mechanistically important for the broader personalized neoantigen vaccine pipeline (Mount Sinai PGV001, BioNTech autogene cevumeran, Evaxion EVX-01) because peptide-orientation engineering has been an under-systematized variable in current vaccine designs. The findings provide a generalizable engineering principle that could inform second-generation neoantigen vaccine constructs heading into late 2026 and 2027.
A WIRES Nanomedicine and Nanobiotechnology 2026 review by Garland and colleagues synthesizes the materials-science side of peptide-based cancer vaccine development: lipid nanoparticle delivery, dendrimer scaffolds, peptide self-assembly platforms, and adjuvant chemistry. The piece complements the broader review wave by focusing on delivery and formulation rather than antigen selection. Key themes: lipid-nanoparticle-encapsulated peptides show improved bioavailability and immune-cell uptake versus free peptides; self-assembling peptide hydrogels enable sustained antigen release at injection site; CpG and TLR agonist combinations remain the dominant adjuvant approach but with new variants emerging. The review positions peptide vaccines as catching up to mRNA cancer vaccines (BioNTech, Moderna programs) on delivery sophistication.
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.
BioVaxys announced April 27 that the abstract from the investigator-initiated PESCO trial — an open-label, non-randomized Phase 1B/2 study evaluating the company's MVP-S (maveropepimut-S) DPX-formulated peptide vaccine in combination with pembrolizumab and cyclophosphamide in recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer — has been accepted for presentation at the 2026 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago (May 29–June 6). MVP-S is a five-peptide survivin-targeted formulation that pairs the peptides with a T-helper sequence and an innate-immune stimulant; the program tests whether the cytotoxic T-cell response can be combined effectively with checkpoint blockade in platinum-resistant disease.
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.
Greenwich LifeSciences presented FLAMINGO-01 Phase III open-label data at AACR 2026 showing GLSI-100 (the 9-amino-acid GP2 HER2 peptide plus GM-CSF adjuvant) produced a ~4x increase in delayed-type hypersensitivity to GP2 across 247 non-HLA-A*02 patients — from 5.2% at baseline to 20.4% at months 4-6 (p<0.001). GP2 is the C-terminal transmembrane fragment of the HER2/neu protein.
BriaCell's Bria-IMT + checkpoint inhibitor combination preserved overall health status and key functional quality-of-life measures in its pivotal Phase 3 study in heavily pretreated metastatic breast cancer patients who had failed ADC, CPI, and CDK4/6 inhibitor therapy. Phase 2 biomarker analyses identified mitotic circulating tumor cells as prognostic and PD-L1 in tumor-macrophage fusion cells as predictive of checkpoint benefit. Presented at AACR April 20.
A Phase 1 trial published in Nature Medicine showed that FLC-Vac, a therapeutic peptide vaccine targeting the DNAJ-PKAc fusion protein in fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma, combined with nivolumab and ipilimumab achieved 75% disease control (9/12 patients) and 25% partial response rate. All responders showed tumor-specific T cell responses.
A randomized Phase I/II trial of a melanoma helper peptide vaccine with anti-CD27 antibody varlilumab reported 69% four-year disease-free survival in the combination arm versus 20% with vaccine alone. However, varlilumab depleted circulating CD4+ T cells, potentially limiting vaccine synergy and warranting further optimization.