Our Technology
ONCOLOGY
The Opportunity And Need
While available therapies for cancer patients continue to improve outcome for some patients, a significant need exist to improve outcomes for a much larger percentage of patients. New, more recent advancements in immunotherapies that target a patient’s own immune system are emerging, but unfortunately, the reality is that most patients still do not respond to many of the most recent therapeutic advancements.
While these therapies have brought improved treatment options for some patients, a much larger percentage of patients still have significant, unmet medical needs. DevaCell is addressing these challenges by focusing on the discovery and development of high impact therapeutics and bringing to patients in need, new, transformative therapies with the potential to dramatically improve outcomes in a true bench-to-bedside manner.
Harnessing The Power of The Human Immune System
Viral immunotherapies are uniquely suited to activate both innate and adaptive immunity.
The Innate Immune System
The human innate immune system is our first line attack from foreign invaders and upon recognition is responsible for producing the first attack, identifying and directly killing cancer cells.
A diverse set of cell types are part of our innate immune system and include natural killer (NK) cells, macrophages and dendritic cells that, in a synergic matter, generate a rapid response to these foreign invaders, including cancer cells.
The Adaptive Immune System
The human adaptive immune system is our second line of defense, enabling a long-lasting protective response
The adaptive immune system includes two parts, a cell-mediated component (T cells) and a humoral component (B cells), which act in a synergistic fashion and can establish more durable memory, enabling a more rapid response when a foreign invader such as a cancer cell reappears.
The Promise of Synthetic Vector Immunotherapies
The objective in cancer immunotherapy is to activate and enhance a patient’s own immune system, harnessing the power of the human immune system to identify, attack and kill tumor cells, while potentially establishing durable, long-term immunologic memory protecting against recurrence.
To significantly improve outcomes for cancer patients, we are developing an emerging therapeutic approach that not only activates and enhances a patient’s T cell response, which is the mechanism of action for the use of checkpoint inhibitors, but to also activate and enhance in a synergistic manner, additional key immune cells within the innate and adaptive immune systems.To accomplish that objective, we are developing a synthetic vector-based platform of novel product candidates that we believe represents one of the most attractive approaches to activate and enhance the immune system in a highly synergistic fashion in order to achieve improved outcomes for cancer patients.
Enabling A Unique Therapeutic Approach
The objective in cancer immunotherapy is to activate and enhance a patient’s own immune system, harnessing the power of the human immune system to identify, attack and kill tumor cells, while potentially establishing durable, long-term immunologic memory protecting against recurrence.
To significantly improve outcomes for cancer patients, we are developing an emerging therapeutic approach that not only activates and enhances a patient’s T cell response, which is the mechanism of action for the use of checkpoint inhibitors, but to also activate and enhance in a synergistic manner, additional key immune cells within the innate and adaptive immune systems. To accomplish that objective, we are developing a synthetic vector-based platform of novel product candidates that we believe represents one of the most attractive approaches to activate and enhance the immune system in a highly synergistic fashion in order to achieve improved outcomes for cancer patients.
Transformative And Unique Therapeutic Approach
Synthetic vector-based immunotherapies have several unique properties that distinctly differentiate our therapeutics from other therapeutics, representing a new and transformative approach to cancer care.
1. Target and selectively kill tumor cells by immunogenic cell death mechanism
DevaCell’s synthetic vector-based immunotherapies are designed to selectively target and kill cancer cells while sparing healthy cells. Using novel targeting approaches, cancer cells can often be selectively targeted, reducing potential side effects.
2. Establish an induced, inflammatory state that can turn cold tumors hot
DevaCell’s synthetic vector includes an engineered adenovirus subtype 5 (Ad5). After invading cancer cells, the virus replicates and following multiple cycles of viral replication, the cancer cells die and release antigens that are patient-specific, triggering an activation of the patient’s innate immune system and generating an increase in inflammation within the tumor microenvironment. In a cascade of events, recognizing this inflammation, innate and adaptive immune cells are then attracted to the tumor microenvironment. In preclinical studies, DevaCell’s synthetic vector-based immunotherapies have been shown to convert tumors with a “cold tumor” phenotype, typically defined as a tumor that has few tumor-infiltrating immune cells, into “hot tumors”, defined as tumors with high numbers of tumor-infiltrating immune cells, which is a tumor type that has been shown to respond to immunotherapeutics.
3. Trigger the release, spread and presentation of patient-specific tumor antigens
Tumor cell killing by synthetic vector-based immunotherapeutics produce a diverse range of tumor-specific antigens, which result from direct tumor cell killing (direct oncolysis), that are then presented to the immune system. We believe this “display” of tumor antigens results in a more complete presentation of tumor antigens versus other therapeutic approaches, offering the potentially to produce a patient-specific immune response that is more potent and effective. Through this novel mechanism of action, we believe we can activate and enhance not only the innate immune response, but also synergistically activate and enhance an adaptive immune response, including both a T cell response and antibody response that selective targets, attacks and kills tumor cells throughout the body, while also establishing immunologic memory, which may protect against potential recurrence.
4. Engineered synthetic vectors expressing transgenes localized to the tumor microenvironment
DevaCell’s synthetic vectors have been engineered with multiple transgenes that code for a range of therapeutic agents including immune checkpoint antibodies, immunostimulatory cytokines, and other therapeutic proteins that have been shown in human clinical trials, when delivered as recombinant protein therapy, to improve immune responses. The ability of our synthetic vector-based immunotherapies to deliver to the tumor microenvironment, highly potent immunostimulatory factors, creates a highly synergistic effect, reducing the suppressive tumor microenvironment, activating and enhancing the improve immune response, while simultaneously reducing toxic side effects, together offering the potential for improved outcomes.
DevaCell synthetic vector-based immunotherapeutic platform is designed to target a wide range of tumor types, with a focus on bringing the transformative potential of our novel therapies to patient’s as quickly as possible.
Our Synthetic Vector Platform
Systemic Delivery with Potential for Repeat Administration
DevaCell’s synthetic vector platform represents a unique and potentially transformative, next-generation immunotherapy. Build upon an engineered, adenoviral, subtype 5 (Ad5) viral vector, our synthetic vector platform has been designed to optimally activate and enhance a patient’s own immune response, which historically has been a challenge using conventional immunotherapy approaches.
Based on our novel and proprietary ONCoat™ encapsulation technology, our synthetic vector-based immunotherapies offer several unique advantages. First, we believe for the first time, our synthetic vectors enable the systemic delivery of a highly potent immunotherapy, while also offering targeted delivery, resulting in high localized delivery of therapeutic agents, which we believe will also result in lower toxicities. Second, also for the first time, we believe our synthetic vector enable repeat administration, which is typically going to be required to maximize efficacy in most cancer indications.
Our strategic focus is to develop and advance multiple product candidates with different transgene compositions, in order to effective target the widest range of tumor types. Our lead product candidate, DEVA-OV1, is a systemically-delivered synthetic vector immunotherapy targeting multiple solid tumor cancers. Additional product candidates, with different transgene configurations, are advancing through preclinical development. In addition, in preclinical development outside of oncology is an infectious disease product candidate, DEVA-COVID19, targeting the SarsCov19 virus, as well as gene therapy/gene editing product candidates in discovery research.
Engineered to Maximize Effectiveness and Safety
We believe our ONCoat™ synthetic vector platform represents a transformative, next-generation immunotherapeutic approach that offers the potential to significantly impact patent care based on three unique characteristics of our product platform.
Capacity for multiple transgenes that synergistically maximize immune response
Using our proprietary ONCoat™ technology, our synthetic vector-based product candidates have been engineered with a synergistic combination of transgenes that offer the potential for improved immune response, which include the following:
- Activates and enhances a more potent, systemic immune response
The synergistic combination of multiple immunostimulatory agents that can be targeted to the tumor microenvironment offers the potential in enhance response rates while reducing to systemic toxicity. - Full replication competency to enable maximum tumor-killing potency
Using our proprietary synthetic vector Platform, we are developing product candidates that retain their full ability to selectively replicate in tumor cells.
By comparison, traditional viral-based immunotherapies are engineered to attenuate their replication competency in both normal and tumor tissues to reduce toxicity. We believe this reduces the potential effectiveness. - Optimized safety strategies to limit viral activity to tumor cells
Our synthetic vector platform incorporates multiple unique and transformative approaches to allow for tumor-specific replication in order to focus viral activity to tumor cells.
We insert genetic regulatory elements within the genomes of our synthetic vectors. These genetic elements are designed to preferentially target viral replication to tumor cells and not normal healthy cells.
Designer Encapsulated Vector Assembly