This story was originally published in 2024 and was last updated on October 23, 2026.
A new vaccine continues to show potential as a ready-made treatment for patients with pancreatic cancer, according to a study co-led by researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) and published in Nature Medicine. Unlike individualized cancer vaccines, which are tailored to each patient, these “off-the-shelf” vaccines can be mass-produced and stored for immediate use.
The vaccine, ELI-002 2P (also known as camupepimut), targets tumors with mutations (changes) in the KRAS gene, which are found in more than 90% of pancreatic cancers. It was developed by Elicio Therapeutics.
Medical oncologist and pancreatic cancer specialist Eileen O’Reilly, MD, presented phase 2 results from a clinical trial called AMPLIFY-7P at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress in Madrid, on October 23, 2026.
Cancer vaccines are given after surgery to prevent or delay cancer from coming back in high-risk patients. In the trial, there were encouraging signs that the vaccine stimulates a strong immune response and can reduce the risk of recurrence in certain patients.
Although the study’s primary endpoint — significantly delaying cancer recurrence — was not met, this was likely due to an imbalance in the patient groups, Dr. O’Reilly explained. The group receiving the vaccine included relatively more high-risk patients compared with the control group.
Overall, the results were promising enough to move the vaccine forward to a larger, phase 3 trial.
“Having a vaccine that’s ‘off-the-shelf’ would make it easier, faster, and less expensive to treat a larger number of patients,” says Dr. O’Reilly, who co-led the trial. “This gives hope for people with pancreatic cancer who have been out of effective treatments when their disease returns.”
Dr. O’Reilly is co-corresponding author of the Nature Medicine study, along with Ben George, MD, of the Medical College of Wisconsin, and Christopher M. Haqq, MD, PhD, of Elicio Therapeutics.
Clinical trial results for pancreatic cancer KRAS vaccine
The phase 2 trial involved 144 patients who had surgery and treatment for early-stage pancreatic cancer. They were randomly assigned into two groups: 96 got the vaccine, while 48 received standard monitoring.
Among the encouraging signs:
- In 75.7% of patients who received the vaccine, the cancer did not return within the first six months, compared with only 61.7% in the observation group.
- The vaccine triggered strong immune responses — 99% of patients receiving it developed cancer-fighting immune T cells. In addition, patients with the strongest immune responses had dramatically lower recurrence rates.
- The vaccine was safe. Side effects were mild, mainly soreness and fatigue. Dr. O’Reilly reported patients tolerated the vaccine better than standard treatments such as chemotherapy, radiation, or targeted drugs.
- The vaccine worked better in patients who had not received radiation therapy or had no detectable cancer DNA in their blood when they received it.
“In patients whose immune system appeared to respond to the vaccine, the recurrence of cancer was delayed compared with patients who did not respond to the vaccine,” Dr. O’Reilly says. “That’s the type of early clinical effect we can continue to build on in the phase 3 trial.”
How the KRAS vaccine is given
The KRAS vaccine is given as four shots — one in each arm and one in each leg. Peptides from the vaccine travel to nearby lymph nodes, which are loaded with the cells critical to generating an effective immune response.
Patients in the trial received the vaccine in two phases — six doses in a primary phase, followed by a booster phase with four doses a few months later.
ELI-002 2P targets a mutation that’s found in most pancreatic cancer tumors — and across many different cancer types. The ELI-002 2P vaccine works by binding to albumin (a protein in the bloodstream) at the site of injection and is delivered to lymph nodes to boost anti-cancer immunity.
How ready-to-use vaccines targeting KRAS mutations differ from personalized mRNA vaccines
A different approach to activating immune cells has been led by surgical oncologist Vinod Balachandran, MD, Director of the Olayan Center for Cancer Vaccines (OCCV) at MSK. Dr. Balachandran is investigating whether a personalized mRNA vaccine using proteins from a patient’s pancreatic tumors will alert their immune system that the cancer cells are foreign. In this way, the mRNA vaccine trains the body to protect itself against cancer cells. This personalized vaccine is now being tested in a phase 2 research study at MSK and other institutions.
Personalized vaccines, while promising, also have challenges. They are costly and time-consuming to produce. By contrast, a ready-made cancer vaccine manufactured in batches could be given to patients with minimal delay and would be cheaper to make. The results from the AMPLIFY-7P trial suggests the “off-the-shelf” approach could also work.
“These findings are exciting because they show that there is more than one way to activate immune cells to target pancreatic cancer,” Dr. O’Reilly says.
Both approaches are actively moving forward in clinical trials.
“We hope the phase 3 trial will give us further proof that vaccines can generate a potent immune response and translate that immune response into improvement in clinical outcomes, especially against pancreatic cancer,” Dr. O’Reilly says. “Many groups at MSK are collaborating on these vaccines and KRAS therapies for pancreatic cancer — and everyone is very interested in learning which are the best approaches to develop. It’s encouraging to know that we could have multiple emerging treatment options for such a challenging disease.”
The trials were sponsored and funded by Elicio Therapeutics. A full list of authors and their disclosures can be found here.
Key Takeaways
- Results from a phase 2 trial called AMPLIFY-7P suggest a new cancer vaccine continues to show potential as a ready-made treatment for pancreatic cancer.
- The vaccine, ELI-002 2P, targets tumors with mutations in the KRAS gene, which are found in more than 90% of pancreatic cancers.
- There were encouraging signs that the vaccine stimulates a strong immune response — 99% of patients receiving it developed cancer-fighting immune T cells. Patients with the strongest immune responses had the lowest recurrence rates.
- The vaccine is moving forward into a larger, phase 3 trial.
Dr. O’Reilly holds the Winthrop Rockefeller Endowed Chair of Medical Oncology.
