METiS TechBio (HKEX: 7666) and China-based WestVac Biopharma have signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement to develop personalized mRNA cancer vaccines, combining METiS's AI-enabled RNA and lipid nanoparticle design technologies with WestVac's vaccine development and manufacturing capabilities.
The collaboration is at an early research stage, with no vaccine candidate, cancer indication, development timeline, or financial terms disclosed.
Under the agreement, METiS will apply components of its NanoForge platform, including its AiLNP lipid nanoparticle design engine and AiRNA mRNA optimization technology, to vaccine design and delivery. WestVac will contribute capabilities in antigen design, vaccine manufacturing, and clinical translation. The companies said they intend to explore AI-enabled personalized tumor antigen screening, vaccine design, and delivery across multiple cancer types.
Personalized cancer vaccines are designed around tumor-specific antigens identified from an individual patient's cancer, with mRNA providing a means of encoding multiple selected antigens in a single vaccine. The field received a major clinical validation this week when Moderna and Merck reported that individualized neoantigen therapy intismeran autogene (V940) plus pembrolizumab met the primary and key secondary endpoints in the Phase III INTerpath-001 study in resected melanoma.
METiS's approach adds AI-based optimization of both the mRNA construct and its LNP delivery system to that broader personalized vaccine model. The company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in May 2026, raising USD 269 million, and has been applying different components of NanoForge across multiple therapeutic modalities.