GSK PLC (LSE:GSK, NYSE:GSK) has unveiled plans to invest £50 million into research with Oxford University for vaccines to prevent certain types of cancer.
A GSK-Oxford Cancer Immuno-Prevention Programme would investigate how pre-cancerous cells develop, the FTSE 100 pharmaceutical said.
Over at least three years, research based on Oxford’s expertise would look into “tumour-specific proteins that prompt the immune system to recognise cancer” in order to assess the viability of preventative vaccines.
Such preventative treatment is already under development, aimed at creating vaccines able to introduce personalised proteins to stimulate an immune response against cancerous cells.
“The purpose of the vaccine is not to vaccinate against established cancer, but to actually vaccinate against that pre-cancer stage,” Oxford professor Sarah Blagden told BBC Radio 4.
“Cancer does not come from nowhere [they] can take up to 20 years, sometimes even more, to develop. The normal cell transitions to become cancerous. At that point most cancers are invisible.”
Blagden will head up the programme with GSK’s Timothy Clay and Ramon Kemp.
GSK climbed 2.5% on Monday.