Profectus and Vyriad Form Global Collaboration to Develop Oncolytic Recombinant VSV (rVSV) Vaccines for Cancer Immunotherapy
Monday, March 21, 2016
Profectus BioSciences, Inc. and Vyriad announced today an exclusive global collaboration to develop oncolytic vesiculovirus vaccines for the treatment of advanced-stage cancers. The two companies will combine and leverage their respective recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV)-derived oncolytic and vaccine platform technologies to develop novel cancer drugs that selectively destroy tumor cells while simultaneously boosting patients’ immune systems to continue killing any residual cancer cells that may survive the initial virus attack.
The intellectual property licensed to Profectus and Vyriad that underlies the collaboration consolidates the platform technology first developed by John K. Rose, PhD, Professor of Pathology and Director of the Molecular Virology Program at Yale University. Dr. Rose’s foundational technology established the use of recombinant vesiculoviruses in vaccine development, including the use of rVSV for the delivery of vaccine antigens as well as their use as oncolytic viruses.
"We consider Profectus BioSciences to be the world-leading company in the area of rVSV vaccines, with unmatchable scientific depth and clinical experience,” said Stephen J. Russell, MD, PhD, President and CEO of Vyriad. “We are confident that this critical alliance will allow us to unleash the full power of oncolytic immunovirotherapy as a new and highly versatile anticancer modality.”
“Vyriad is an established leader in oncolytic virotherapy and is an ideal partner to enable the full potential of our platform to be realized in the area of immuno-oncology,” said Jeffrey Meshulam, President of Profectus. “Vyriad was the first to develop and clinically test rVSV as an oncolytic agent. We look forward to working closely with the Vyriad team to advance innovative new vesiculovirusbased oncolytic vaccines that have clear potential to benefit cancer patients.”
In nature, VSVs can be isolated from insects and livestock and are not considered human pathogens. However, VSVs can be engineered to selectively replicate in tumor cells and destroy them without harming healthy cells. Oncolytic vesiculoviruses have demonstrated potent ability to target and destroy cancer cells while also stimulating the body’s adaptive anti-tumor immune response that directs the immune system to continue killing cancer cells. This anti-tumor immune response is more powerfully stimulated when the virus has been further engineered to encode a tumor antigen.
The companies’ innovative combination strategy is designed to generate powerful oncolytic vaccines that work by infecting, selectively replicating in, and destroying cancer cells. The oncolytic vesiculovirus vaccines will be engineered to produce specific tumor antigens tailored to specific types of cancer. Soon after the cancer cells are infected, they display a very high surface density of the virally encoded antigen to enable optimal recognition by anticancer T cells. Subsequently, as the cancer cells die, they release a broad spectrum of additional cancer antigens that trigger the patient’s immune system to continue attacking all cancer cells in the body that contain the same antigens. The collaboration leverages:
• Vyriad’s rVSV-derived oncolytic viruses that are engineered to infect, selectively replicate in, and destroy cancer cells with enhanced specificity, anti-tumor potency, and safety
• Profectus’ rVSV-derived VesiculoVax™ vaccine vectors that are engineered to prime the immune system to generate a robust and durable cellular immune response to promote more sustained cancer cell-destroying activity, increasing drug effectiveness with enhanced safety and immunogenicity.
Under the terms of the exclusive agreement, the collaboration will be strategically managed by a joint development committee with equal representation from Profectus and Vyriad, and Vyriad assumes the primary responsibility for program implementation. The companies’ strategy is to show efficacy of the combination approach for an initial selected tumor indication, then proceed to develop a portfolio of oncolytic vaccines targeting different cancer indications, potentially in combination with other cancer immunotherapies such as checkpoint inhibitors, or other forms of therapy such as chemotherapy and newer targeted therapies. The companies anticipate the first program initiating human clinical trials in 2017. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Source : profectusbiosciences.com
