As we get older, modern medicine will help more of us live with
cancer rather than die from it. That’s the assumption behind a
vaccine to treat cancer, being developed by a pharmaceutical
company in Israel. Vaxil BioTherapeutics’ main product, ImMucin,
is now in advanced clinical trials at Hadassah University
Medical Center in Jerusalem. CEO Julian Levy tells ISRAEL21c
that this therapeutic vaccine doesn’t prevent cancer from
invading, but activates and enhances the body’s natural immune
system to seek and destroy cancer cells already present in the
body, such as those lingering after cancer surgery. Malignant
cells normally get out of control by tricking the immune system
not to notice them, a strategy that works especially well in
older people because immune systems get less efficient with age.
The vaccine is currently being tested against a blood cancer
called multiple myeloma. However, Vaxil’s scientific
breakthrough is based on a drug platform, VaxHit, which can be
tailored to treat not only 90 percent o