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Company News: Provecs Medical Announces Publication of Scientific Review of Gene Therapy in Oncology
— Peer-reviewed paper in Human Gene Therapy provides comprehensive overview of using gene therapy to address multiple targets
Provecs Medical GmbH, a cancer immunotherapy company developing novel treatments to modulate the tumor microenvironment, today announced the publication of a review highlighting the use of gene therapy approaches in immuno-oncology to address multiple targets with a single drug. The paper entitled “Immuno-Oncology – the Translational Runway for Gene Therapy” will appear in the December issue of Human Gene Therapy, a peer-reviewed publication covering all aspects of human gene therapy.
The review is already available online at http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/hum.2017.145.
“It is known today that a successful strategy against cancer needs to address multiple targets or pathways of the immune system in parallel to ensure that it recognizes and eliminates tumor cells,” said Dr. Frank Schnieders, CEO of Provecs Medical. “In past decades, gene therapy research has developed a vast array of technologies not only to transfect all sorts of cells and tissues, ex vivo as well as in vivo, but also to organize, regulate and stabilize the genetic content of the vectors. Gene therapy therefore is the best available toolbox for the targeted delivery of several therapeutic entities to the tumor and its microenvironment. It was our goal to summarize the impact of gene therapy on novel approaches in cancer therapy that may well lead to breakthrough treatments against tumors.”
Provecs is a pioneer in the tumor gene therapy field and has developed ENVIRO, a unique, patented adenoviral platform for the targeted delivery of up to four biologicals combined in one product. The first product candidate, Immunalon®, is expressing three potent immune-modifying signaling proteins – Interleukin-12, Interleukin-2 and CD137 ligand – to turn off tumor-mediated immune suppression and to promote T- cell infiltration of tumors and recognition of cancer cells. These molecules stimulate the activation, proliferation and survival of a synergizing network of tumor-defensive immune cells in both the innate and the adaptive immune system. At present, Immunalon® is being developed for the treatment of a wide range of solid cancers. In urinary bladder cancer, it is partnered with Medac Gesellschaft für klinische Spezialpräparate mbH (Wedel, Germany).