Overview of the cancer vaccine field: are we moving forward?

Cancer immunotherapy has seen a tremendous number of failures and only few recent regulatory successes. This review is a first in a series dedicated to evaluate the status of current global clinical pipeline for cancer vaccines. Apart from specific areas of medical need which can be addressed by cancer vaccines, the analysis of the pipeline by clinical indication suggests that a disproportionately large number of candidates is currently developed in prostate, breast, lung cancer and melanoma with significant gap of candidates in remaining oncology indications. With potential offering and benefits that cancer immunotherapy could bring to patient community and society as a whole, we require new innovative R&D, improved Antigen Discovery programs and business models to fill serious gaps in cancer vaccine R&D pipeline.