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Theriva Biologics Advances Pipeline to Tackle Difficult-to-Treat Cancers

August 1st, 2024 12:35 PM
By: FisherVista

Theriva Biologics, a leader in oncolytic virus therapies, announces promising clinical trial results aimed at improving survival rates for challenging cancer types like pancreatic cancer and retinoblastoma.

Theriva Biologics Advances Pipeline to Tackle Difficult-to-Treat Cancers

Theriva Biologics (AMEX: TOVX), headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, has announced significant advancements in its clinical trials aimed at treating difficult-to-treat cancers. According to Cancer Research UK, while cancer survival rates have doubled in the past 40 years, progress has been uneven across various cancer types. Brain tumors and pancreatic cancers have seen minimal improvements, highlighting an urgent need for innovative treatments.

Theriva Biologics is at the forefront of developing oncolytic virus therapies, which utilize viruses to target and destroy tumors. The company's recent positive results from its clinical trials underscore the potential of their approach to treating various challenging cancers.

CEO Steven A. Shallcross explained that solid tumors are particularly difficult to treat due to their complex structures, which include a dense extracellular matrix that hampers the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Theriva's lead candidate, VCN-01, is designed to degrade this stroma, thereby improving the tumor's accessibility to co-administered cancer therapies and the patient's immune system.

Theriva's clinical trials have shown encouraging results in pancreatic cancer (PDAC), retinoblastoma, and head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC). Studies are being conducted in collaboration with the School of Medicine at the University of Leeds and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania to evaluate VCN-01's efficacy in other difficult-to-treat cancers.

Further innovations include VCN-11, which incorporates Albumin Shield technology and is in preclinical development with researchers from the Institut d’Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL) and the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO).

In collaboration with Washington University in St. Louis, Theriva is also investigating methods to prevent acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD), a serious complication in bone marrow transplantation. The company's SYN-004, an antibiotic-degrading enzyme, is being evaluated to mitigate aGVHD and other side effects in high-risk patients.

The significance of Theriva's advancements cannot be overstated. The global market for solid tumor therapies could reach as much as $532 billion by 2032, according to Precedence Research. Other analysts estimate this market could exceed $885 billion by 2033. Moreover, the retinoblastoma treatment market is projected to grow to over $3.3 billion by 2030, driven by advancements in medical technology and rising incidence rates, as per Grand View Research.

At the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, Dr. Rocio Garcia-Carbonero, the principal investigator for Theriva’s clinical site in Spain, presented the design of the VIRAGE Phase 2b clinical trial of VCN-01 for PDAC patients. Garcia-Carbonero expressed optimism about VCN-01's unique mechanism of action, which she believes could induce a robust immune response against cancer, setting it apart from traditional chemotherapies.

More information about Theriva's oncolytic virus therapies can be found on the company’s website.

Source Statement

This news article relied primarily on a press release disributed by News Direct. You can read the source press release here,

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