Ludwig Cancer Research,an international collaborative network of acclaimed scientists that has pioneered cancer research and landmark discovery for more than 40 years, and the Cancer Research Institute(CRI), the world’s only non-profit organization dedicated exclusively to transforming cancer patient care by advancing scientific efforts to develop new and effective immune system-based strategies to prevent, diagnose, treat, and cure cancer,have announced that they have agreed with Targovax, a clinical stage immuno-oncology company developing targeted immunotherapy treatments, to evaluate the company’s experimental virotherapy, ONCOS-102, in early phase clinical trials in combination with other, potentially synergistic immunotherapies such as checkpoint inhibitors.
… [this is an] important step forward in efforts to discover and develop optimally effective immunotherapy treatment regimens…
ONCOS-102 is an engineered humanserotype 5 adenovirusoptimized to induce systemic anti-tumor T cell response in cancer patients. A gene encoding granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), which was originally discovered by Ludwig researchers in Melbourne, is inserted into the virus genome and expressed as the virus replicates in
tumor cells. This treatment may reinstate the immune system’s capacity to recognize and attack cancer cells.
Engineered viruses
“We believe oncolytic virotherapy – in which engineered viruses are deployed against cancer cells-holds considerable promise, especially for boosting the efficacy and expanding the applicability of compatible immunotherapies,” said Jonathan Skipper, executive director of technology development at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. “This kind of clinical research is precisely what our collaboration with CRI is all about, and certainly a key component of our mission to apply our life-changing science as quickly as possible to cancer patients everywhere.”
Important step forward
“Our partnership with Targovax and Ludwig is an important step forward in efforts to discover and develop optimally effective immunotherapy treatment regimens,” noted Adam Kolom, managing director of CRI’s Clinical Accelerator and venture fund that will support this trial. “This strategic partnership is the latest in a series of CRI-Ludwig collaborations with pharmaceutical companies to test novel combination treatments, and will enable us to explore an innovative new way to create a more favorable tumor microenvironment for an immune attack on cancer.”
“We are delighted about this partnership and what may come out of it. Targovax R&D will have access to the well-known expertise and network of CRI and Ludwig Cancer Research, which provides us with new opportunities for combinatorial research. The focus will be on mechanistic synergies with clinical impact combining ONCOS-102 with other immune therapies to the potential benefit of patient care in the future,” Magnus Jaderberg, chief medical officer at Targovax, said.
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