 |
Our Products
The table below summarizes the status of our product candidates.
| Product Candidate |
Target Indication |
Status |
| Active Immunotherapy |
|
|
ICT-107
(cancer antigen vaccine) |
Glioblastoma |
Phase I ongoing |
ICT-121
(cancer stem cell antigen vaccine) |
Glioblastoma and other cancers |
Phase I in H209 |
| Monoclonal Antibodies |
|
|
ICT-109
(Monoclonal Antibody) |
Lung and pancreatic cancer therapeutic |
Pre-clinical |
ICT-037
(Monoclonal Antibody) |
Colon, ovarian, multiple myeloma therapeutic
and diagnostic |
Pre-clinical |
ICT-69
(Monoclonal Antibody) |
Ovarian cancer, multiple myeloma |
|
| ICT-Diagnostic-SCLC |
Diagnostic/Prognostic for small cell lung
cancer and pancreatic cancer |
Pre-clinical |
Active ImmunoTherapies
We have two active immunotherapy product platforms-a cancer stem cell vaccine and a dendritic cell-based vaccine-both of which may be applicable to multiple types of cancer.
Cancer Stem Cell Vaccine
The characterization of cancer stem cells from glioblastoma has provided an opportunity to study the etiology of this dreaded disease and to be engaged in the development of product candidates that would be able to target the cancer stem cells which are believed to be responsible for the initiation and maintenance of glioblastoma.
ICT-121 is IMUC's cancer stem cell vaccine that consists of a peptide to stimulate a Cytotoxic T-Lymphocyte (CTL) response to CD-133, which is generally overexpressed on the cancer stem cells. It is designed as an off-the-shelf vaccine which may be applicable to multiple types of cancers overexpressing CD-133. IMUC will initially evaluate it in a Phase I clinical study for glioblastoma which the company expects to file an IND application for in the third quarter of 2009.
We are very excited about the potential that our cancer stem cell vaccine technology holds. There has been global excitement in this area-an area that pharmaceutical companies have shown recent extensive interest in. Additionally, the cover story the September 2008 issue of The Economist was called "Cancer and Stem Cells - The Connection that Could Lead to a Cure." We are pleased to be involved in this cutting-edge and exciting area of clinical development!
Dendritic Cell Based Cancer Vaccine
Dendritic cells are critical facilitators of a T cell response but are often not present in sufficient numbers and are often not aggressive enough against malignant tumors to permit an adequately potent immune response to fight cancer. Dendritic cell therapy generally involves harvesting dendritic cells from a patient, then culturing and processing them in a laboratory to produce more numerous and effective dendritic cells. In the laboratory, the dendritic cells are cultured with specific tumor antigens to enable the dendritic cells to recognize cancer cells as targets for attack. When the newly cultured dendritic cells are injected back into the patient, they seek out remaining tumor cells and signal the T cells to destroy them.
IMUC recently completed a Phase I clinical trial of ICT-107, the company's dendritic cell-based vaccine. The trial enrolled 19 patients and was conducted at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. It was reported in November 2008 that of the 19 patients enrolled, 17 patients were still alive with eight patients surviving at least one year after the surgery that preceded their vaccine treatment. Ten patients were evaluated for immune responses, and five of them had a significant immune response to at least one tumor-associated antigen. Patients demonstrating an immune response are exhibiting a trend toward longer overall survival. IMUC plans to present additional follow-up data on this trial at the 2009 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Meeting.
Antibody ImmunoTherapies
Antibody ImmunoTherapies
The second strategy for our product development, which is in preclinical development, is to harness the other arm of the adaptive immune system, which uses antibodies that can bind and neutralize any foreign antigen. DIAAD (Differential Immunization for Antigen and Antibody Discovery) is a platform technology that allows potentially rapid discovery of targets (antigens) and monoclonal antibodies for diagnosis and treatment of diverse human diseases, specifically cancer. DIAAD utilizes immunological tolerization to accelerate the discovery of the molecular differences between diseased cells and their normal counterparts enabling us to develop antibodies that selectively bind to cancer cells and not normal cells. The monoclonal antibodies produced by DIAAD provide the basis for the discovery and development of our potential diagnostic and therapeutic products.
Our cancer-specific antibody candidates were created to recognize certain antigens primarily expressed on cancer cells and not expressed on normal cells, such that binding to those antigens can lead to death of the tumor cells. The antibody candidates that we are evaluating in preclinical studies bind to certain tumor antigens which may be useful for the potential detection and treatment of multiple myeloma, small cell lung (SCLC), pancreatic, colon and ovarian cancers. We are also evaluating a diagnostic/prognostic test that may be applicable to SCLC and pancreatic cancer.
IMUC is currently seeking licensees or partners for the further development of our antibody technologies.
|
|
