Funding to drive Phase 1 and 1-2 Clinical Trials for COVID-19, HPV induced cancers and HBV Vaccine Candidates
PHILADELPHIA, Penn., February 11, 2021 – THERAVECTYS, the world leading pioneer in lentiviral vector technology, announced today a fully subscribed $20M funding round. This funding will be used to progress the Theravectys pipeline by driving several vaccine candidates, including their COVID vaccine, into phase 1 and 1-2 clinical trials. These vaccine candidates are based on a proprietary lentiviral vector platform which elicits an unprecedented, efficient cellular immune response through direct in vivo transduction (gene transfer) of dendritic cells.
With a previous HIV clinical phase 1 trial that demonstrated successfully its safety, and several rounds of pre-clinical testing that proved remarkable efficacy, Theravectys looks forward to commencing in-human testing of its vaccines against SARS-CoV2, HPV and HBV (both targeting virus and viro-induced cancers).
“Our goal has always been to deeply transform global health, and this funding helps us to continue on our path,” said Ye Tian, CEO. “Thanks to our pioneering technology, we’re poised to revolutionize immunotherapy and vaccination, changing the way some of the world’s deadliest diseases can be prevented and treated.”
“With proven successes in previous testing, including full eradication of HPV-induced tumors in 100% of mice after a single intramuscular injection, we eagerly anticipate what the next round of clinical tests will bear,” said Christian Brechot, senior scientific advisor. “We now have the opportunity to further test vaccine candidates where we are the most advanced in our preclinical trials, and are quite confident we’ll see successes emerge in our next rounds of clinical trials.”
Theravectys has an extensive patent and IP portfolio based on more than twenty years of research, including exclusive worldwide rights for lentiviral vector production using DNA flap mechanisms. Theravectys’ vectors use the DNA flap technology (cPPT/CTS), developed by Chief Scientist Dr. Pierre Charneau, enabling the virus to cross the nucleus membrane and get into the cell nucleus, so that they can also transfer genes into non-dividing cells, such as dendritic cells.
Theravectys’ lentiviral vectors are engineered for the most efficient expression of the target antigens and elicit appropriate adaptive immune responses in a variety of indications in oncology and virology. They also have a strong proclivity to induce antigenic presentation by dendritic cells, likely the unique cells to mount a proper T cell immune response, by contrast with various other vaccines that do not have a specific targeting of dendritic cells.
