Smarter viruses are our allies against cancer
Smarter viruses are our allies against cancer
Engineered oncolytic viruses that prefer tumors, spare healthy cells, and invite the immune system to finish the job
ViroMissile designs oncolytic viruses to seek out cancer cells and multiply only where they find them. Inside the tumor, infected cells produce proteins that harm the cancer and then break it apart (oncolysis), spreading the effect to nearby tumor cells. This creates a brief, localized wave of activity in the tumor, followed by natural immune cleanup. The result is a therapy that aims to be precise, self-amplifying where it matters, and temporary by design.
Coupling the cancer killing feature of oncolytic vaccinia virus + an immune-stimulating payload
Vaccinia is the basis of the smallpox vaccine and has been safely injected into hundreds of millions worldwide. Vaccinia preferentially infects cancer cells, killing them through a process called oncolysis. It carries a large payload, allowing us to load proprietary genes that can impact the tumor microenvironment or trigger the immune system to target the tumor (or both).
At ViroMissile, we have isolated a unique strain of Vaccinia that has allowed us, for the first time, to infect tumors from intravenous dosing. Through our IDOV Platform, we are harnessing the features of this strain of Vaccinia to deliver proprietary payloads to attack cancer.
Traditional drug development faces limitations
The paradigm of cancer therapy is shifting. Over the last 20 years, as scientists gained a deeper understanding of the drivers of various cancer types, personalized or targeted therapy came to the fore. Years of research and millions of dollars are spent on developing a treatment that often targets one driver of one cancer type.
However, these therapies often fall short of providing a durable treatment for cancer sufferers for a myriad of reasons, often providing 9-12 months of relief.1
1. Keara L. Redmond, Anastasia Papafili, Mark Lawler, Sandra Van Schaeybroeck, Overcoming Resistance to Targeted Therapies in Cancer, Seminars in Oncology, Volume 42, Issue 6, 2015, Pages 896-908, ISSN 0093-7754, https://doi.org/10.1053/j.seminoncol.2015.09.028.
One solution to treat multiple types of cancer, anywhere in the body
To be effective against metastatic disease, therapies need to be delivered systemically to ensure the medicine reaches every tumor cell in the body. Unfortunately, patients often suffer significant side effects, as the therapy impacts both tumors and healthy tissue alike.
With IDOV, we can deliver vaccinia virus directly to tumors via intravenous delivery. Because vaccinia virus has a payload of ≥25 genes, we can arm it, causing the tumor itself to become an anti-tumor “drug” factory, delivering cytokines, chemokines, or other proteins to kill the tumor while limiting off-target effects common with systemic delivery.