Hyderabad startup PopVax to make personalised mRNA cancer vaccines
A Hyderabad biotech company says it will make personalised mRNA vaccines for individual cancer patients at its Hyderabad facility, the RNA Foundry. PopVax announced the service on Friday, 30 October, saying it can now design and manufacture a vaccine matched to a single patient’s tumour.
Here is how it works. A patient or their doctor sends the company tumour and healthy tissue sequencing data. PopVax then uses its artificial intelligence (AI) system to design an mRNA sequence for that patient, makes it in cleanrooms at the foundry, and packs it into tiny fat particles called lipid nanoparticles that carry the mRNA into the body. Each batch is quality-tested before it is shipped, with a certificate of analysis.
The company says the facility can make more than 100 personalised vaccines over the next 12 months. It expects most projects to cost around $300,000 and take eight to 10 weeks. Its vaccine mixture stays stable for more than nine months in a normal fridge, at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, which makes it easier to store and transport than some mRNA vaccines that need deep freezing.
These are experimental treatments, not approved cures. PopVax says it is working on immunotherapies for hard-to-treat cancers such as liver and pancreatic cancer, and points to encouraging results from other companies’ personalised mRNA vaccines against melanoma and pancreatic cancer. Its own first vaccine, a COVID-19 vaccine called PVX-001, entered a first-stage clinical trial in Australia on 31 August.
Why it matters
Personalised cancer vaccines are built for one person, not for everyone. Because each vaccine is matched to the mutations in a single patient’s tumour, it could teach that patient’s immune system to attack their own cancer. If a facility in India can make them quickly and at scale, the treatment could become available to far more patients, including through compassionate use while formal approvals are still pending.
What happens next
PopVax says it is now taking requests from patients and doctors, who can contact it with their cancer type, stage and sequencing data. The company, founded by Soham Sankaran, has raised about $30 million from the Gates Foundation and other funders, according to Hyderabad Mail. The key test will be whether these one-off vaccines help patients in practice, which only clinical results over time can show.
This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.
Sources
- https://rnafoundry.com/ (RNA Foundry, accessed 1 November 2026)
- https://popvax.com/ (PopVax, accessed 1 November 2026)
- https://hyderabadmail.com/hyderabad-popvax-personalised-cancer-treatment/ (Hyderabad Mail, 28 October 2026)
