CLEVELAND, Ohio — A new breast cancer vaccine put in motion by a collaboration between Anixa Biosciences and the Cleveland Clinic could be a major breakthrough for researchers.
They are focusing on 16 women who are currently taking the vaccine. One of those women is Jenni Davis.
Davis said she lived in a constant fear of her cancer returning every single day.
She's a triple negative breast cancer survivor. Getting the news of her diagnosis in February 2018, she said her loved ones were her first thought.
"There's definitely a part of myself that always worried about them more than what I worried about myself," she said.
"I was originally diagnosed with triple negative in 2018 and went through the chemotherapy, double mastectomy, 26 rounds of radiation," Davis said.
After fighting one of the most brutal battles, her Cleveland Clinic doctors came to her with a breast cancer vaccine opportunity.
"They released the recent data in April of 2023 and it showed that I have built an immune response," Davis said. "Which means the vaccine taught my body to identify these cancer cells and destroy them before, before they become a tumor."
Davis said her internal fears started to fade as the vaccine responded well to her body.
"You know if I have a headache, I really think it's just a headache. I don't think it's a brain tumor anymore," Davis said.
While researchers are seeing encouraging results, including Davis' experience, they have a set plan on how they intend to go forward.
Trial track explained:
- Phase one (where we are now): This is the stage of testing a small number of women who have finished treatment and survived triple negative breast cancer. The goal here is to make sure the vaccine is safe and is producing an immune reaction.
- Phase two: Doctors will increase and create bigger focus groups introducing a control arm. Meaning some women will only take treatment and not the vaccine, but there will be a separate group also monitored who will be given the vaccine doses.
- Phase three: The final steps are to finish observing and collecting data from the focus groups. When that is wrapped up, researchers will take it to the FDA.
The doctor leading the charge, Dr. Amit Kumar, said this has been decades in the making.
"This is what's known as a prophylactic vaccine. So it's kind of like the vaccines for infectious diseases like polio, small pox and most recently COVID," he said.
"You take the vaccine when the cancer isn't in your body and the ideal situation would be your body, your immune system gets trained," Kumar said.
He said the goal at this stage in the trial is to make sure this is safe, but looking forward doctors are striving to make sure on top of safety, the immune system of those receiving it is affected.
Davis said this vaccine has been a game changer for her, and she truly feels hope looking to the future — and she wants that exact feeling for all women, especially her daughters.
"I do believe that and I'm very hopeful that it’ll just become available for everyone," she said. "And if my daughters could get it and never have to worry about triple negative that would be the best gift."
