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The dreaded word cancer could get not-so-dreaded now with scientists claiming a breakthrough in the next few years: a single jab of TeloVac will do the trick and prevent cancer cells from spreading.

According to the scientists, the injection will use a set of the latest drugs available to fight cancer cells such as breast, pancreatic and prostate, nipping the tumours in their tracks.

And, it will not take a decade for this therapy to hit the market but just two years, according to the scientists.

Although vaccines normally prevent a disease, the jab is a full form of treatment. The medicines in the injection will not attack cancer cells, like most of our drugs now do, but will leverage the body’s immune system to battle malignant tumours, as per information given by the scientists.

It works by paving the way for the immune system to scout for and destroy an enzyme by the name telomerase. Found in alarming levels in many cancer cells, telomerase makes them fully undestructive, setting the stage for them to live on even as healthy cells die. This eases growth and spread of the tumour.

In the largest trial in recent past in the UK, more than 1,000 men as well as women in the terminal stages of pancreatic cancer were either being given the vaccine along with their usual drugs or treated normally, according to the Daily Mail.

The results from the over 50 hospitals taking part will only be revealed next year. However, some patients feel that this therapy could extend their lives by a year or two.

John Neoptolemos, who is managing the mammoth trial in Britain, said, “When you have pancreatic cancer, it is similar to a time bomb.”

Pancreatic cancer cells are normally invisible to the immune system but the vaccine “spots” the telomerase branching out from them and begins the fight back.

Dr Jay Sangjae Kim, who set up GemVax, the Korean firm making the TeloVac vaccine, said, “We strongly feel this injection could overcome limits of other cancer vaccines used now and become part of a treatment not only for pancreatic cancer but for various other types also.”

Such a simple form of treatment, if effective, could save millions from the dreaded disease. Just like tuberculosis, which sent a shrill down everybody’s spine even a couple of decades ago, is a curable disease today.

The simplicity of this treatment could prompt drug makers to put production of such injections in the fast lane. We will not only see exclusive versions of the drug but also generic drug makers could ramp up supply and make it commercially available as well as viable in a very short time.

However, according to the initial findings, it is difficult to gauge how successful this therapy will be as it doesn’t actually talk of a cure. So, there could be doubts whether a jab can actually tame cancer cells at all unless the final results, which are yet to be out, say so.