Cancer Vaccines 2.0

Checkpoint inhibitors, the blockbuster therapeutics at the vanguard of the immuno-oncology movement, may produce durable, lasting responses in some patients but not in others. The unraveling of why this is so – along with improvements in the cost and speed of genomic sequencing technology – has led to a resurgence of interest in personalized cancer vaccines. Perhaps just as importantly, investors buoyed by a years-long biotech bull market that has been driven in part by the promise of checkpoint inhibitors and other potentially curative therapies appear ready to believe again in the transformative promise of these vaccines, an idea that has eluded the biopharma industry for many years.

Within a three-week period, investors announced the formation of three new companies to develop personalized cancer vaccines based on coaxing...