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targets such as mutant RAS
Oslo, Norway, & Gothenburg, Sweden 29 June 2020 - Targovax ASA (OSE: TRVX), a
clinical stage immuno-oncology company developing oncolytic viruses to target
hard-to-treat solid tumors, today announces that it has entered into a
collaboration agreement with Oblique Therapeutics to evaluate the potential of
using ONCOS oncolytic adenoviruses as a vector to encode and deliver Abiprot
antibodies against hard-to-reach intra-cellular targets.
Oblique has developed a unique, proprietary methodology to identify epitopes on
targets that have previously proven difficult to address with antibodies. This
approach can be extended to intra-cellular targets such as mutant RAS, however,
delivering antibodies into cells remains a major obstacle. Targovax and Oblique
anticipate that expression of Abiprot antibodies against such targets using
ONCOS as a vector can overcome this challenge and boost the specificity and
power of the anti-tumor response.
Under the agreement the parties will jointly explore the technical feasibility
and in vitro and in vivo functionality and anti-cancer activity of the ONCOS
-Abiprot combination, initially focusing on mutant RAS as the target. If
successful, this would provide a first-in-class oncolytic virus candidate
directly targeting RAS and demonstrate proof-of-concept for ONCOS-Abiprot as a
new technology platform.
Dr. Victor Levitsky, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Targovax, said: “We
continue to explore innovative strategies to expand our ONCOS platform into
mutant RAS immunotherapy, and we are very excited to initiate this collaboration
with our colleagues at Oblique. With Abiprot they have built a cutting-edge
methodology to develop antibodies against historically difficult targets to
address, such as mutant RAS. By employing ONCOS as a vector for Oblique’s
antibodies we believe we can both enhance antibody delivery into cancer cells
and strengthen the oncolytic power of the ONCOS virus, and thus drive a
synergistic effect between the two modalities”.
Dr. Sreesha P Srinivasa, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Translational R&D Oblique
Therapeutics, commented, “We are delighted to partner with Targovax in extending
the capabilities of our proprietary Abiprot platform to translate antibodies
against difficult to reach intra-cellular targets into effective therapeutics.
RAS is one of the most frequently mutated oncogenes but has until recently
proven to be therapeutically intractable. Oblique has used its Abiprot platform
to identify novel epitopes on mutant RAS and developed functional antibodies
against these epitopes. The ONCOS platform potentially offers an efficient
vehicle for intracellular delivery of these functional antibodies into cancer
cells. If proven successful, this extends the target space addressable by
antibodies to a large number of very important intracellular oncogenes”.
For further information, please contact:
Renate Birkeli, Investor Relations
Phone: +47 922 61 624
Email: renate.birkeli@targovax.com
Media and IR enquires:
Andreas Tinglum - Corporate Communications (Norway)
Phone: +47 9300 1773
Email: andreas.tinglum@corpcom.no
About Targovax
Activating the patient’s immune system to fight cancer
Targovax (OSE:TRVX) is a clinical stage immuno-oncology company developing
oncolytic viruses to target hard-to-treat solid tumors. Targovax’s lead product
candidate, ONCOS-102, is a genetically modified oncolytic adenovirus, which has
been engineered to selectively infect cancer cells and activate the immune
system to fight the cancer.
ONCOS-102 is currently being tested in mesothelioma, melanoma and peritoneal
malignancies and has already shown promising clinical results both as
monotherapy and in combination with chemotherapy, and a checkpoint inhibitor.
About Oblique TherapeuticsOblique Therapeutics is a privately held Swedish
biotech developing innovative new medicines for severe diseases with a large
unmet medical need focusing on pain and advanced cancer. The company uses
Abiprot[TM], an in-house-invented, next-generation antibody platform that can
generate antibodies with programmed function against the full human proteome.
The portfolio comprises three in-house programs - two antibody candidates: aKRAS
in advanced cancer, aTRPA1 in pain; and the small molecule OT-1096 in triple
-negative breast cancer. In addition, there are three antibody programs in
collaboration with pharma. Oblique Therapeutics makes medicines that matter to
patients. https://obliquet.com/
For more information, please contact:
Owe Orwar, CEO
Email: owe@obliquet.com
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