The 26th World Cancer Day will take place on 4 February 2026. The motto of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) is "United by Unique", making it clear that cancer can take very different courses and requires increasingly individualised therapies. More than half a million people are newly diagnosed with cancer every year in Germany. On the occasion of World Cancer Day, the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (PEI), the Federal Institute for Vaccines and Biomedicines, would like to draw attention to the central roles that research, regulation, and international cooperation play in the fight against cancer by making innovative cancer therapies and preventive vaccines available to patients safely and reliably.
Illustration CAR T-Cell Therapy.
Source: Alioui Mohammed Elamine7/Shutterstock
As the Federal Institute for Vaccines and Biomedicines, the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut makes an important contribution to the development and safe use of modern cancer therapies and preventive vaccines. The Institute evaluates oncological biomedicines and vaccines, monitors clinical trials, and continuously monitors the safety of these products, even after authorisation.
Vaccines make an important contribution to the fight against cancer, especially when it comes to prevention. Preventive vaccines, such as those against cancer-causing viruses such as human papillomaviruses (HPV), can effectively prevent the development of certain tumours and protect many people at an early stage. Therapeutic tumour vaccines that function using active immunisation, a mechanism of action typical for vaccines, to produce specific antitoxins and protective agents against tumours are still being studied and have not yet been authorised. These vaccines include mRNA-based vaccines that provide the body with genetic instructions for building tumour-associated antigens to trigger a targeted immune response against cancer cells. Research is also being conducted on personalised neoantigen vaccines that are individually tailored to patients and are based on specific mutations (neoantigens) occurring in a specific patient's tumour cells. As the competent federal authority, the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut provides scientific and regulatory support for these new developments.
In addition to established therapeutic methods such as surgical tumour removal, radiation, and chemotherapy, there are biomedicines that have already been authorised and are currently used in cancer treatment. These include immunotherapies, monoclonal antibodies, and cell and gene therapies that specifically support the body's immune system in recognising and fighting cancer cells or are individually tailored to the cancer. The Paul-Ehrlich-Institut's own research in areas such as CAR T-cell therapy, in which patients' own immune cells are genetically modified to target cancer cells, is incorporated directly into regulatory assessments and forms the scientific basis for making safe decisions when authorising these medicinal products.
The Paul-Ehrlich-Institut is also actively involved in the fight against tumour diseases at the European level and contributes its expertise to the European Medicines Agency (EMA), including participation in the Oncology Working Party (ONCWP). This expert group supports the EMA's scientific committees, in particular the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), through specialised expert advice on oncological medicines throughout their development and assessment process. The group's work includes, for example, the design of clinical trials and benefit-risk assessments of new medicinal products. It also contributes to the formulation and further development of scientific guidelines and contributes to the harmonisation of regulatory assessment standards for cancer medicines in Europe.
In view of the recent developments in cancer research, an ongoing central task of the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut is providing active regulatory and scientific support throughout the entire drug development lifecycle in order to join innovation and safety together.
Updated: 04.02.2026
