- Touchlight’s cell-free, enzymatic dbDNA manufacturing platform underpins the NEOVACC Phase I trial led by The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre and the University of Liverpool — enabling the rapid, scalable production of a personalised vaccine for the most common form of lung cancer.
LONDON, UK, July 30, 2026 / Biotech Newswire / -- Touchlight, the UK-based, market-leading cell-free DNA provider, today marked a significant milestone in personalised cancer treatment as the first UK patient was dosed with a bespoke cancer vaccine manufactured using its proprietary dbDNA technology — in a pioneering early-stage trial for the most common type of lung cancer.
The patient, who is being treated at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre (CCC), is the first person in the UK to be given the vaccine, which is designed to match the unique genetic changes found in their tumour. The patient’s advanced lung cancer has only partially responded to standard immunotherapy, and it is hoped the vaccine will ‘boost’ their immune system to recognise tumour cells, seek them out in the body and attack them — with the aim to reduce or eliminate the tumour. Clinicians and researchers at CCC and the University of Liverpool are studying the personalised vaccine in the early-stage NEOVACC clinical trial.
At the heart of the project is Touchlight’s innovative cell-free method of manufacturing DNA, known as dbDNA. Part of Touchlight’s portfolio of proprietary DNA manufacturing solutions, the platform uses enzymes to amplify DNA efficiently through a streamlined, cell-free process, simplifying production and shortening development timelines, allowing researchers to produce personalised vaccine components rapidly and at a lower cost than more traditional approaches.
CCC researchers believe the inclusion of dbDNA technology will play an important role in making personalised cancer vaccines capable of delivery at scale, with the collaboration between CCC and Touchlight providing an important clinical opportunity to demonstrate these benefits.
The NEOVACC Phase I trial will involve 10 participants with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Its main aims are to assess safety and to look for early signs of the personalised vaccine triggering an immune response against this common cancer. In the UK, around 50,000 people are diagnosed with this type of cancer each year, with two million cases globally, making it the third most prevalent cancer in the world.
The trial brings together experts from many disciplines — including cancer doctors, immunologists, genetic scientists, clinical trial specialists, NHS teams and industry partners — underpinned by a £2.66m grant from the Medical Research Council’s Development Pathway Funding Scheme. It is led by Professor Christian Ottensmeier, CCC Consultant Oncologist and Chief Investigator, and Professor Natalia Savelyeva, both of whom are part of the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology.
Dr Jill Makin, Chief Scientific Officer at Touchlight, said: “We are very excited to work with Profs Ottensmeier and Savelyeva. The doggybone DNA technology provides an ideal means to deliver rapid individual personalised vaccines to this large group of patients with an unmet clinical need and other patients with solid cancers.”
Chief Investigator Professor Christian Ottensmeier said: “We are excited to be using Touchlight’s ‘doggybone DNA’ (dbDNA) technology in the creation of this vaccine, which has the potential to be a gamechanger in reducing the speed and cost of production of these important therapies. In essence it’s making impossible timelines with traditional plasmid now possible.”
He added: “This personalised approach could offer hope to those for whom standard immunotherapy has not fully worked, by helping the immune system recognise and fight the parts of the tumour that have previously evaded detection. I hope this research will contribute to new ways of thinking about cancer vaccine use in advanced lung cancer.”
Professor Natalia Savelyeva said: “It is a very exciting study because, if successful, this strategy could benefit more than half of patients with advanced lung cancer, and possibly those with other types of cancer as well.”
The patient said: “The trials team said I was an ideal candidate for this study, so I didn’t hesitate when they asked if I wanted to take part. If there was a possibility of me surviving longer, I was happy to be involved with it, and if there is a chance of it helping other people in the future, then that was even better.”
AI Semantic Keywords: DNA; Neoplasms, Non-Small-Cell Lung; Lung Neoplasms; Cancer Vaccines; Immunotherapy; Immune System; Tumor Cells; DNA Amplification; Enzymes; Phase I Clinical Trial; Touchlight; doggybone™ DNA; dbDNA™; cell-free DNA; cell-free; enzymatic; DNA manufacturing; proprietary DNA manufacturing solutions; personalised cancer vaccine; personalised vaccine; NEOVACC; The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre; University of Liverpool; advanced non-small cell lung cancer; advanced lung cancer; tumour; tumour cells; genetic changes; immune response; solid cancers; immunologists; genetic scientists; NHS; Medical Research Council; Development Pathway Funding Scheme; Professor Christian Ottensmeier; Professor Natalia Savelyeva; Dr Jill Makin; personalised cancer treatment; bespoke cancer vaccine; standard immunotherapy; rapid production; scalable production
About Touchlight
Touchlight is an innovation-driven leading CDMO pioneering enzymatic GMP DNA production to enable the genetic medicine revolution. As pioneers, with an FDA Drug Master File accepted in 2022 followed in 2025 with the world’s first cell-free DNA GMP license, Touchlight’s enzymatic DNA technology is on the cutting edge of AAV, mRNA, DNA vaccine, and gene editing technology with its state-of-the-art facility recognised by ISPE’s Facility of the Year Awards (FOYA) for Innovation.
With multiple client products already in the clinic, Touchlight’s evidence-based, synthetic DNA manufacturing solutions offer a scalable, sustainable alternative to plasmid DNA (pDNA) for all stages of pre-clinical, clinical and commercial development. The company and technology are built on the conviction that DNA is fundamental to the future of medicine. Traditional methods, based on bacterial fermentation, are slow, costly, and unable to meet the growing demands of genetic medicine due to limited scalability and speed. Founded in 2007, Touchlight’s team is focused upon supporting breakthroughs in genetic medicine and advanced therapeutics, recognising the urgent need for innovative DNA production techniques to support the future of such therapies.
About the NEOVACC trial
The NEOVACC Phase I clinical trial is supported by a wide-ranging partnership. Touchlight Genetics Ltd is collaborating closely with The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre and the University of Liverpool — including the Liverpool Clinical Trials Centre and the GCP Laboratory team — together with NHS Blood and Transplant, GenomeScan, myNEO Therapeutics and PharmaJet to deliver the trial. Funding was secured through the Medical Research Council’s Development Pathway Funding Scheme (DPFS), which drives MRC-funded research along the development pathway to enable clinical use, patient benefit and commercialisation.
About The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre
The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s leading cancer centres, serving a population of 2.4 million in Cheshire and Merseyside and surrounding areas. It provides highly specialist services, including pioneering chemotherapy, immunotherapy and radiotherapy, through a networked model spanning three Clatterbridge Cancer Centres in Liverpool, Wirral and Aintree.
Contacts
Touchlight:
Karen Fallen, Chief Executive Officer
Verna McErlane, Chief Commercial Officer
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+44 20 8481 9200
NEOVACC trial / The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre
Paul Ogden, Communications Manager
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+44 (0)7749 166643
Further quotes
Professor Christian Ottensmeier: “This is the first personalised cancer vaccine trial spearheaded by academic research, using our own vaccine concepts. It has been a monumental task to achieve the green light for this research, and I would like to thank our many partners and everyone who has contributed to us getting this far.”
Professor Natalia Savelyeva: “Cancer vaccines hold the promise to turn ‘immune cold’ cancers into ‘immune hot’ cancers and, if successful, could help more than 50% of patients with advanced lung cancer and potentially also patients with other cancers. We are very excited to develop this trial and look forward to making the vaccines available to the patients with non-small cell lung cancer that are seen in our region.”
Dr Carles Escriu, CCC Medical Oncology Consultant and University of Liverpool Senior Clinical Lecturer: “While a minority of patients experience long-term benefit from immunotherapy, most either do not respond or eventually develop resistance. This study is unique internationally — not only because of the novel technology, but because it focuses on a substantial and clinically important group: patients who respond initially but are at high risk of developing resistance. Cancer vaccines are typically well tolerated, which is particularly relevant for lung cancer patients who are often frail and have significant comorbidities. A less toxic treatment capable of extending survival would be highly valuable in routine clinical practice.”
Source: Biotech Newswire