"The CVC was established on the fundamental premise that cancer vaccines must include multiple components, including an antigenic target or targets, a delivery system, an immunological stimulant, and a modulator of immunosuppression, or checkpoint blockade, to ensure that the anti-tumor immune response, once aroused, does not shut down prematurely," says Lloyd J. Old, M.D., director of the CRI Scientific Advisory Council and director of the CVC. "Providing funding that will enable a large quantity of clinical grade Poly-ICLC to be manufactured is essential to furthering both Oncovir's and our program's clinical research objectives. Specifically, having a supply of Hiltonol under CVC control will make it possible for our investigators to identify its optimal use within the context of cancer vaccines, particularly in combination with other critical agents, such as antibodies that have the capacity to neutralize cancer-induced immunosuppression. The partnership with Oncovir brings us one step closer to an optimally effective therapeutic cancer vaccine for patients."
As part of its ongoing collaborative program to make Hiltonol available for a variety of therapeutic applications, Oncovir plans to continue to distribute Hiltonol, including the remaining portion of the CVAF-supported batch, to qualified scientists and companies testing next-generation cancer vaccines, as well as to scientists testing promising new immunologic therapies for HIV, malaria, influenza, SARS, hepatitis, and other infectious diseases.
"The CVAF strategy was designed to achieve two principal goalsto increase the number of promising vaccine components in global development, and to facilitate clinical research that will accelerate the refinement of powerful, multi-component cancer vaccines," says Adam Kolom, director of CVAF. "This new partnership with Oncovir will help us advance both, while also adding a valuable agent to our license and intell
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| Contact: Brian M. Brewer bbrewer@cancerresearch.org 212-688-7515 Cancer Research Institute Source:Eurekalert |