ORCA Therapeutics licenses oncolytic adenovirus technology from VCN Biosciences
ORCA Therapeutics BV announced that it has obtained an exclusive license from VCN Biosciences SL of Gelida (Barcelona), Spain, to their T1 oncolytic adenovirus technology for the treatment of cancer. This license allows ORCA Therapeutics to develop and commercialize new, next generation oncolytic adenoviruses with increased oncolytic potency.
“We are very excited to have in-licensed this technology from VCN Biosciences. Securing this intellectual property will enhance our competitive position in virotherapy” said Dr Janneke Meulenberg, CEO of ORCA Therapeutics “We now have the unique opportunity to combine our oncolytic adenovirus technology and know-how with VCN Biosciences’ state of the art T1 technology to develop more effective oncolytic adenoviruses for treatment of cancer.”
Oncolytic adenoviruses are engineered to replicate selectively in cancer cells. They kill these cells by their inherent capacity to lyse their host cell. Upon destroying infected cancer cells, progeny viruses are released that in turn will infect and kill adjacent cancer cells. This results in a strong anti-cancer effect. The T1 technology provides a novel mechanism to increase the release of adenovirus from infected tumor cells. A team led by Dr Ramon Alemany and Dr Manel Cascallo from the Catalan Institute of Oncology identified a unique mutation in the endoplasmic reticulum retention domain of the adenovirus E3/19K protein (445A mutation). This mutation causes enhanced oncolytic potency in human tumors and cancer-associated fibroblasts in vitro and enhanced anti-tumor activity when injected intra-tumorally or systemically in different cancer models in vivo.
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