This is a critically important editorial (The Guardian view on mRNA vaccines: they are the future – with or without Donald Trump, 1 January). I have just gained at least a year of life from a trial of a new mRNA off-the-shelf “vaccine” (neoantigen therapeutic), to which I turned after receiving the message “no options left”.
A dual American and British citizen and academic, I was a researcher, university professor and policy adviser in Russia, and because of the cost of treatment in the US, I returned to the UK in 2019 after being diagnosed with an incurable melanoma of the nasal mucosa. In the UK, I underwent surgery and was given immunotherapy, the most advanced treatment then available. After recurrence, when further surgery was ruled out, I sent an email to the remarkable head of the mRNA trial, Dr David Pinato of Imperial College, who suggested I apply for recruitment by his team at Hammersmith hospital. My tumours are now virtually gone.
My trial, which involves patients in the US, was financed by Moderna and Merck, both with headquarters in the US. The “coordinated wind-down of federal funding for mRNA research, cancelling an additional $500m in funding for 22 projects” highlighted in the editorial has deeply shocked the online melanoma community. This terrifying news will slow down the work of Moderna, Merck, BioNTech and others (Scancell, Evaxion, and Candel Therapeutics) even as the research successfully advances. The rising number of invasive and non-invasive melanoma cases, estimated at 19,513 in the UK in 2025, and 104,960 invasive cases in the US last year, could be addressed by mRNA vaccines as one way forward. My fellow patients in the UK must now face “no further options”, even as the vaccine does indeed help stall this aggressive metastatic disease. Dashed hopes are the personal side of the impact of US cuts.
Dr Carol S Leonard
Oxford
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