The need fornew cancer treatments
The development of immunotherapies including immune checkpoint inhibitors, such as α-PD1, cancer vaccines and adoptive immune therapy such as CAR-T and TCR therapy, which activate the immune system against cancer, have revolutionized the field of cancer therapy. Current immunotherapies are not ubiquitously effective and benefit only subsets of patients. Therapies that can offer alternative mechanisms of immune induction or broaden the efficacy of approved immunotherapeutic regimes are therefore urgently required.
Oncolytic viruses have shown strong potential to fulfil this function. They exert their effects through direct cell lysis and, importantly, induce long-term responses against tumor antigens.
The VacV technology platform
We have a versatiletechnology platform
The VacV platform, comprises a rationally engineered Vaccinia virus with enhanced capacity for immune induction and systemic spread. It has the potential to revolutionise the current oncolytic virus-based immunotherapeutic space due to the following features:
Systemic delivery
- Enhanced intravenous delivery platform
- Viral gene modifications and payloads enhance intra- and inter-tumoral spread, reduce immune clearance and increase efficacy
Safety
- Vaccinia virus Lister strain safety consistently demonstrated
- Unique N1L deletion reduces possibility of neurotoxicity
Efficacy
- Targets wide range of tumour cells including treatment-refractory populations
- Large payload capacity and genetically stable promoter used for transgene expression
- Gene deletions and payloads significantly enhance anti-tumour immunity
- Favorably alters the tumour microenvironment
