Rollouts of two approved COVID-19 vaccines have for the past few months started making their way into markets around the world. Amid the attention given to COVID vaccines, new vaccines that target different types of cancers are gaining momentum. In the UK, enthusiasm has been growing for a four-year-old girl attempting to raise £100,000 in less than four months for a potentially life-saving cancer vaccine. Thanks to growing acceptance towards the use of mRNA vaccines like that of BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX) and Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA), vaccines that might not have been considered as viable pre-COVID-19 are being more seriously applied to potential cancer vaccine treatments. Now, new cancer vaccines are being developed and giving much needed hope to cancer patients, such as candidates from BioVaxys Technology Corp. (CSE:BIOV) against ovarian and cervical cancers, as well as collaborations from BioNTech with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:REGN), and Moderna with an approved treatment from Merck (NYSE:MRK).
A new ovarian cancer ‘therapeutic’ vaccine from Canadian company BioVaxys Technology Corp. (CSE:BIOV) is making headlines in the UK. It’s termed ‘therapeutic’ because it can be used as a treatment for those who are already ill. In the case of ovarian cancer, this proposition has high potential, as it already has a low survival rate due to its often being spotted late in its life cycle, when tumors have already spread to the rest of the body.
BioVaxys’s haptenized protein technology platform is designed to teach the body’s immune system how to recognize the invasive cancer cells, which are notorious for evading attack. Each injection involves the cancer cells extracted from the patient’s own tumors, and then is tailored to the individual’s system before being reinjected into the patient for the immune system to better do its job.
“In previous clinical evaluation, survival was two to three times what one would expect [in women with advanced ovarian cancer],” said Dr. David Berd, Chief Medical Officer and Co-Founder of BioVaxys. “There were a couple with five-year survival.”
Since that study took place, BioVaxys has tweaked the platform, further improving upon it to hopefully be capable of giving some women ‘years of extra life’, according to Dr. Berd.
BioVaxys is not only working on its haptenized protein vaccines for ovarian cancer, but also one for cervical cancer, as well as a viral vaccine for certain strains of human papillomavirus (HPV), and its own candidate vaccine for COVID-19.
In Europe, for its cancer and HPV vaccines, BioVaxys Technology Corp. (CSE:BIOV) is partnered with Procter & Gamble spinout company Procare Health of Barcelona. As per the terms of its collaboration, the two companies will co-develop and conduct joint commercialization and marketing of BioVaxys vaccines for ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, and HPV.
“We have been working for 8 years in the area of cervical cancer and HPV, investigating to understand how the immune response of the host could be stimulated to help defend versus HPV infection and persistency, and we believe that the new haptenized cell platform technology can bring a valid answer to this unmet therapeutical need, mainly when high grade lesions of the cervix or even cervical carcinoma have been characterized,” said Yann Gaslain, CEO of Procare Health. “The promising vaccine technology platform of BioVaxys will likely help bringing response in ovarian and cervical cancer.”
BioVaxys isn’t the only biotech developer that’s working simultaneously on a COVID-19 vaccine and cancer vaccines—as there has been significant progress coming from both BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX) and Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA).
While the rest of BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX) was busy with the COVID-19 vaccine, company Co-Founder and CEO Ugur Sahin reported phase I results from his company’s first in-human- dose-escalation phase 1 trial of FixVac (BNT111) in advanced melanoma.
Shortly after the results were delivered, BioNTech announced a strategic collaboration with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:REGN) to advance a FixVac and Libtayo (cemibplimab) combination for the treatment of melanoma.
“We believe our FixVac platform represents a powerful new drug class of mRNA immunotherapies against cancer,” said Sahin. We look forward to working together with Regeneron to advance this product candidate into potentially registrational clinical trials.”
Regeneron and BioNTech are already in a randomized Phase II trial in patients with anti-PD1-refractory/relapsed, unresectable Stage III or IV cutaneous melanoma.
Late in 2020, Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) announced encouraging results from a clinical trial with an experimental cancer vaccine, when given in combination with Keytruda from Merck (NYSE:MRK).
Much like its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, this cancer vaccine from Moderna also relies upon a messenger RNA-based candidate, mRNA-4157.
As per the results, mRNA-4157 shrank tumors for five out of ten patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), when given in combination with the FDA-approved Keytruda.
Merck recently decided to scrap its COVID-19 vaccine candidates, after two shots generated comparatively weak immune responses in early-stage studies. However, there have been no new announcements regarding the Moderna+Keytruda treatment since November.
DISCLAIMER: Nothing in this publication should be considered as personalized financial advice. We are not licensed under securities laws to address your particular financial situation. No communication by our employees to you should be deemed as personalized financial advice. Please consult a licensed financial advisor before making any investment decision. This is a paid advertisement and is neither an offer nor recommendation to buy or sell any security. We hold no investment licenses and are thus neither licensed nor qualified to provide investment advice. The content in this report or email is not provided to any individual with a view toward their individual circumstances. USA News Group is a wholly owned subsidiary of Market IQ Media Group Incorporated (“MIQ”). MIQ has been paid a fee for BioVaxys Technology Corp. advertising and digital media from the company directly. There may be 3rd parties who may have shares of BioVaxys Technology Corp. and may liquidate their shares which could have a negative effect on the price of the stock. This compensation constitutes a conflict of interest as to our ability to remain objective in our communication regarding the profiled company. Because of this conflict, individuals are strongly encouraged to not use this publication as the basis for any investment decision. The owner/operator of MIQ own shares of BioVaxys Technology Corp. which were purchased in the open market and through a private placement with the company. MIQ reserves the right to buy and sell shares of BioVaxys Technology Corp. in the open market and/or through other investment vehicles, and will buy and sell shares of BioVaxys Technology Corp. commencing immediately without any further notice. We also expect further compensation as an ongoing digital media effort to increase visibility for the company, no further notice will be given, but let this disclaimer serve as notice that all material disseminated by MIQ has been reviewed and approved by BioVaxys Technology Corp.; this is a paid advertisement, we currently own shares of BioVaxys Technology Corp. and will buy and sell shares of the company in the open market, or through private placements, and/or other investment vehicles. While all information is believed to be reliable, it is not guaranteed by us to be accurate. Individuals should assume that all information contained in our newsletter is not trustworthy unless verified by their own independent research. Also, because events and circumstances frequently do not occur as expected, there will likely be differences between the any predictions and actual results. Always consult a licensed investment professional before making any investment decision. Be extremely careful, investing in securities carries a high degree of risk; you may likely lose some or all of the investment.