Developed alongside OncoC4, the therapy reached a median overall survival of 18.5 months during the first stage of the PRESERVE-003 clinical trial. This result represents a significant improvement over the 10-month survival rate typically associated with standard-of-care chemotherapy for squamous non-small cell lung cancer.

Principal investigator Rama Balaraman described the results as highly encouraging, noting the potential for the chemotherapy-free approach to reshape treatment standards for a patient population facing limited options. BioNTech confirmed that the second stage of the trial is currently active across more than 160 global sites, as the company works to validate these findings on a larger scale. Year-to-date, the company's shares have now climbed 5.4%.