Introgen Reports Advances in the Development of Oncolytic Viruses for Cancer Treatment
Tuesday December 20, 12:00 pm ET
<Bernard, traders napping today? -g->
AUSTIN, Texas, Dec. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Introgen Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: INGN - News) today announced the publication of promising preclinical data from studies of INGN 011 in animal models of cancer. INGN 011 is an oncolytic virus that has been engineered to selectively replicate within and kill cancer cells. The studies were conducted by the company's academic collaborators at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine and appear in the current issue of Gene Therapy.
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INGN 011 is one of a portfolio of oncolytic viruses that Introgen licensed from VirRx, Inc. This virus has been modified so that it will specifically replicate in the majority of tumors which express an enzyme called human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT), that is not found in most normal tissues. In the animal studies reported today, intravenous administration or direct injection of INGN 011 into tumors suppressed the growth of human liver and lung tumors. Importantly, intravenous administration of INGN 011 demonstrated a favorable safety and toxicity profile.
"These data demonstrate the flexibility of this novel oncolytic virus platform in the development of novel cancer therapeutics," said William S.M. Wold, Ph.D., chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine, founder and chief executive officer of VirRx, and an author on the study. "The ability to engineer these viruses to replicate selectively in the presence of tumor-specific proteins is a powerful approach to destroying cancer cells while minimizing effects on healthy tissue."
About Oncolytic Viruses
Introgen has licensed rights to a portfolio of oncolytic viruses and other related technologies from VirRx, Inc. This portfolio includes a series of replication competent adenovirus vectors that over-express an adenoviral gene (ADP gene), a gene that causes rapid destruction of cancer cells through the replication and release of new viral particles. This release kills the cell, and also yields a pool of new viral particles capable of infecting additional cells within the tumor. The ability to overexpress the ADP gene sets this technology apart from other existing oncolytic viruses and has been shown to provide powerful anti-tumor effects. Development of the ADP expressing oncolytic virus INGN 007 is the most advanced and will be the first of these products to enter clinical trials. |
