VacV was awarded Innovate UK Grant on 10/09/2024:
“Transforming Cancer Therapeutics: Preclinical development of a systemically deliverable oncolytic Vaccinia Virus for treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer”

Metastatic (stage 4) colorectal cancer (mCRC) is an almost uniformly lethal disease with only a 14% 5-year survival rate. Current treatment strategies for mCRC are limited and escape form therapeutic control is common.
VacV biotherapeutics have developed a novel and effective oncolytic Vaccinia virus (VV) with an enhanced capacity for systemic application and we have demonstrated that therapeutically effective doses of this virus can specifically localize to the tumour after intravenous delivery. This virus has been modified to significantly enhance the innate ability of VV to activate anti-tumour immune responses. Furthermore, we have demonstrated powerful synergy of our new VV vectors with immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI), a mode of immune therapy that is currently only effective in a small subset of mCRC patients.
With an Innovation grant from iUK, VacV will complete a pre-clinical analysis package to collect data in support of first-in-human studies of this new therapeutic, with the view of broadening the therapeutic landscape for mCRC patients.

https://www.ukri.org/news/12-million-funding-awarded-to-advance-innovative-cancer-projects/