Innovative Immunotherapies Emerging as the Cancer Treatments of the Future - Seite 2

TapImmune is currently running several phase II clinical trials that study the vaccines' safety and patient response, in particular for cases of ovarian and breast cancer. With plans to attain Food Drug Administration Orphan Disease and Fast Track designation for both vaccines, the company is working closely with industry leaders such as Mayo Clinic, AstraZeneca PLC (NYSE: AZN) or Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

In addition to its T-cell vaccine candidates, TapImmune is developing a proprietary and groundbreaking peptide expression system meant to make DNA-based immunotherapy more effective. PolyStart™ is significantly more efficient than existing antigen expression technologies, as it can enhance the recognition of target cells by the immune system, making them easier to be identified and eliminated. The proprietary technology is still in preclinical development, and it has the potential to increase the efficiency of any DNA vaccine, including the company's own T-cell vaccines, as well as other inoculation types that target cancer or infectious diseases, whether in development or already on the market.

Another company focusing on innovative DNA-based cancer therapy is OncoSec Medical (NASDAQ: ONCS). The company's lead product candidate, which recently received FDA Fast Track designation, is ImmunoPulse® IL-12, an intratumoral anti-cancer gene therapy currently in phase II clinical trials for various cancer types such as triple negative breast cancer or metastatic melanoma. The ImmunoPulse® IL-12 program's focus is now on the unmet medical needs of patients with melanoma who are non-responsive to traditional therapies. In addition to ImmunoPulse® IL-12, OncoSec is developing other immune-targeting agents with the help of the ImunoPulse® technology, which is designed to enhance the delivery and uptake of DNA-based immune-targeting agents.

A wide range of immunotherapies, including but not limited to cancer vaccines and checkpoint antibodies, comes from Agenus (NASDAQ: AGEN). The company also focuses on various combination therapy approaches, with the end goal of making cancer immunotherapy available to a broader patient population. Its lead product candidates include Prophage - a heat shock protein-based vaccine targeting glioblastoma; PhosphoSynVax - a vaccine targeting a new class of tumor specific neoepitopes; AutoSynVax - a neo-antigen based vaccine that targets neo-epitopes in cancer patients; and several checkpoint modulator product candidates. What sets Agenus apart is its suite of antibody discovery platforms, such as the Retrocyte Display™ which screens and generates antibody therapies by incorporating human antibodies expressed in mammalian B-lymphocyte cases.