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Mother Fears Her Son Will Die Before Reaching a Trial for a Personalised Brain Cancer Vaccine
🇦🇺 Australia /Health & Science

Mother Fears Her Son Will Die Before Reaching a Trial for a Personalised Brain Cancer Vaccine

From ABC Australia · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Ongoing story
  • Brigette Metzler is seeking access to a personalised mRNA vaccine trial for her 16-year-old son Coby, who has terminal diffuse midline glioma.
  • The Australian trial has not yet set a start date, and Metzler fears the eligibility timeline will outlast her son’s life expectancy.
  • With help from legal and medical experts, the family is arguing for the untested vaccine to be provided outside the trial.

Brigette Metzler is trying to secure an experimental cancer vaccine for her 16-year-old son before his illness makes the decision for them. Coby has a terminal brain tumour, and a world-first Australian trial of a personalised mRNA vaccine has not yet set a start date.

The treatment, called PaedNeoVax, or PTX-108, would use a small sample of Coby’s tumour to create a customised vaccine. The vaccine is designed to train T-cells to recognise and attack proteins on tumour cells. Metzler fears the trial’s delivery schedule could exclude him before he has a chance to receive it.

The timeline for delivery of the trial does mean that some children will die waiting for a place. My son is likely to be one of them.

— Brigette MetzlerShe explained why she fears her son will not qualify in time for the vaccine trial.

“The timeline for delivery of the trial does mean that some children will die waiting for a place,” she said. “My son is likely to be one of them.” Metzler, who describes herself as a problem-solving mother, has worked with family and friends in law and medicine on a paper addressing the legal and ethical questions involved in giving the untested treatment outside the trial.

I can't not try because I have to be able to live with myself.

— Brigette MetzlerShe described her effort to obtain the vaccine outside the trial.

Coby was diagnosed 14 months ago with level-four brain cancer and given a life expectancy of 12 to 18 months. He first became unwell in late 2024, developing irregular blood pressure, a tremor on his right side and facial drooping. An MRI in June 2025 identified diffuse midline glioma, an aggressive tumour that can spread through the central nervous system and affect the thalamus, brain stem and spinal cord.

Radiation and another clinical drug trial may have extended his life, and his tumour temporarily decreased in size. But his mother says the family is now racing against time. “I can’t not try because I have to be able to live with myself,” she said. Coby has also appealed directly to Federal Health Minister Mark Butler: “My life is in your hands. Please help me.”

My life is in your hands. Please help me.

— Coby MetzlerHe appealed to Federal Health Minister Mark Butler and others for help.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Australia in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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