Innovative Immunotherapies Emerging as the Cancer Treatments of the Future

NEW YORK, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

NetworkNewsWire Editorial Coverage 

Cancer remains one of the world's leading causes of death, putting significant strain on health care systems, in terms of costs and resources. However, as the number of cancer diagnoses rises, so too does the development of innovative and efficient therapies that demonstrate higher chances of success with minimum side effects. Among the many types of cancer treatments, a growing number of patients receiving immuno-oncology therapies are reporting impressive results. In this landscape, leading biotech companies such as TapImmune, Inc. (NASDAQ: TPIV) (TPIV Profile), OncoSec Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ONCS), Agenus, Inc. (NASDAQ: AGEN), Immune Design Corp. (NASDAQ: IMDZ) and Kite Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: KITE) are giving patients hope by introducing new, effective classes of immunotherapy drugs for a wide range of cancers.

According to World Health Organization (WHO), cancer is the second-leading cause of death worldwide, responsible for about 8.8 million deaths in 2015. Statistically, one in six deaths is caused by cancer. Most of these deaths were caused by lung cancer, followed by liver, colorectal, stomach and breast cancer. In addition, the WHO expects a 70-percent rise in the number of new cases over the next two decades. In 2016 alone, there were an estimated 1.7 million new cases of cancer in the United States, with approximately 595,000 deaths. Subsequently, annual cancer drug spending is also on the rise, expected to exceed $150 billion by 2020, according to a report by IMS Health Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: IMS). The 10.5 percent increase is largely driven by the emergence of new immunotherapies that are designed to help cancer patients' immune systems learn how to attack tumors.

An innovative immunotherapy approach comes from TapImmune, Inc. (NASDAQ: TPIV) (TPIV Profile), whose next-generation technology can overcome the deficiencies of earlier vaccines and become a powerful therapy on its own or in combination with other types of immunotherapies. The company is developing two vaccines that target both helper T-cells (CD4) and killer T-cells (CD8) and are directed against specific proteins that are present on the surface of most target tumor cells. Being comprised of naturally processed antigens deriving from immune responses recognized by over 85 percent of the population, these off-the-shelf vaccines have the potential to successfully target and trigger a durable anti-immune response in a very large field of patients.