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news.US-based biopharmaceutical firm GenVec has entered into a collaboration agreement with TheraBiologics to develop neural stem cell mediated cancer therapies.
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The new cancer therapeutics will be developed using both GenVec’s gene delivery platform and TheraBiologics’ neural stem cell (NSC) technology.
Under the deal, GenVec will contribute technology, know-how, vector construction and technical and regulatory support to the program in exchange for an economic participation in the products being developed, while TheraBiologics will be responsible for all other development costs.
Initially, the partnership will focus on the development of next-generation product candidate to TheraBiologics’ TBX02, which uses an established NSC line engineered to express a modified carboxylesterase enzyme that converts the prodrug CPT-11 (Irinotecan) to the potent chemotherapy agent SN-38, which is 1000x more toxic to cancer cells than CPT-11.
TheraBiologics founder and chief scientific officer Karen Aboody said: "NSCs offer an unprecedented advantage of therapeutic specificity over conventional cancer treatments as a result of their inherent tumor-tropic properties.
"The NSCs selectively target invasive cancer sites resulting in tumor-localized chemotherapy production, sparing the rest of the body from toxic side effects.
"GenVec’s technology provides us with a well-validated process for modifying these cells to reach their full therapeutic potential."
GenVec’s adenovectors will be used to provide important manufacturing and potency advantages to other adenovirus-derived vectors as well as use well-defined production methodologies that have already produced clinical trial material for more than 3,000 trial patients.