Date: 2012-10-02
Type of information: Grant
Company: Vaximm (Germany)
Investors: BioRN cluster (Germany)
Amount:
Funding type: grant
Planned used:
- The grant will be used to expand Vaximm's oral T-cell vaccine technology platform. This platform is based on an approved, live attenuated bacterial vaccine strain, which has been applied in millions of individuals for prophylactic vaccination, and is safe and well tolerated. To yield its oral T-cell vaccines, this strain is modified to carry the genetic information of a specific target antigen. After oral vaccination with such modified bacteria, patients are mounting a strong specific cellular immune response against the target. So-called killer cells of the immune system are then targeting and destroying the corresponding cancer or cancer-associated cells. As a result, the tumor shrinks, while metastasis formation and growth are inhibited. The scalable platform offers many advantages, such as oral efficacy, good tolerability, and ease and low cost of candidate generation and manufacturing.
- Vaximm’s lead candidate VXM01 is currently in Phase I/II clinical evaluation in pancreatic cancer patients at the Heidelberg University Hospital. The funding from the leading-edge cluster program will be used to develop additional cancer vaccines complementary to VXM01, which are based on the same oral T-cell vaccine technology. A second candidate (VXM06), which targets an undisclosed, abundant, tumor-specific antigen, is already in preclinical development. Two further product candidates are at discovery stage.
Others:
- • On October 2, 2012, Vaxxim announced that its German subsidiary Vaxxim GmbH has been awarded a grant from the leading-edge BioRN cluster “Cell-based and Molecular Medicine” to expand its oral T-cell vaccine technology platform. The cluster competition is a program of Germany ?s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to promote top-notch innovation in Germany.
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology
Is general: Yes
