Nearly four years ago, the FDA approved a therapy that uses a virus
to infect tumor cells and break them down—the first such viral therapy
for treating cancer. Oncorus CEO Ted Ashburn says there’s room to
improve on these oncolytic viruses and their role in immunotherapy, and
his biotech startup is getting ready to show how.
Oncorus is
planning to begin a clinical trial next year testing its cancer-fighting
virus in solid tumors. The Cambridge, MA, company now has $79.5 million
in financing to support its research. The Series B round of funding
announced Wednesday was co-led by Cowen Healthcare Investments and
Perceptive Advisors.
Research on oncolytic viruses dates to the 1960s. The concept
involves using a virus, one that occurs naturally or is engineered, to
infect a tumor cell. Once inside the tumor, the virus replicates until
it causes the cell to explode, killing it. These cells deaths lead to
the immunotherapy step of the treatment. Tumor antigens are released
that trigger the immune system to recognize and fight the cancer.
The
first FDA-approved oncolytic virus, talimogene laherparepvec (Imlygic),
is based on a modified herpes simplex virus. The Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN)
therapy is injected into the tumor, where the virus replicates and
produces a protein intended to stimulate an immune system response. The
FDA’s 2015 approval of the Amgen therapy covered melanoma that cannot be treated with surgery.
Like
Amgen’s oncolytic virus, lead Oncorus drug candidate ONCR-177 is based
on a modified version of the herpes virus. But Ashburn says that Oncorus
has made advances in the way it engineers the virus to enable it to
carry a bigger therapeutic payload. Onboard ONCR-177 are five
anti-cancer proteins that stimulate different parts of the immune
system.
“In effect what you’re doing is causing a robust,
therapeutic, personalized vaccination for the patient,” says Ashburn.
The Oncorus virus also comes with additional
safety measures. Ashburn says ONCR-177 is engineered to replicate only
in tumor cells, not in healthy tissue. At the American Association for
Cancer Research’s annual meeting in April, Oncorus presented preclinical data
showing that treatment with ONCR-177 partially or completely shrunk
tumors, and the viral therapy led to protective immunity. Ashburn adds
that the safety measures appeared to work: No signs of the virus or its
therapeutic payload were detected outside of the tumor.
Ashburn
says he envisions ONCR-177 being used in combination with checkpoint
inhibitors, a type of immunotherapy that blocks proteins that stop the
immune system from recognizing and fighting cancer cells. But in some
instances, the oncolytic virus could find use as a standalone treatment,
he says.
The company has a second therapeutic candidate in its
pipeline based on a synthetic oncolytic virus. Ashburn says this virus
is meant to be given intravenously, and that it would circulate
throughout the body. Using this approach would allow the virus to
potentially treat a wider range of tumors, including lung cancer, where
direct injection of a therapy is not practical because it risks
puncturing the organ, he says.
Oncorus plans to use the new
capital to finance Phase 1 tests of ONCR-177. The company will also
continue development of its synthetic oncolytic virus. Ashburn says he
expects the company will identify a candidate from that platform early
next year.
The research that underpins Oncorus was conducted within venture capital firm MPM Capital until the company spun out in 2016 with $57 million in financing.
MPM also participated in the latest Oncorus financing, which included
participation from other earlier investors UBS Oncology Impact Fund,
Deerfield Management, Arkin Bioventures, Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG),
and Astellas Venture Management. New investors in the Series B round
include Surveyor Capital, Sphera Funds, IMM Investment, QUAD Investment
Management, UTC Investment, SV Investment Corp., and Shinhan
Investment-Private Equity.
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