Translation Award to develop cancer-attacking virus
14 October 2011
Viruses that preferentially attack cancer cells while leaving normal tissues unharmed are known as oncolytic viruses. The oncolytic virus ColoAd1 was developed using the evolutionary principle of natural selection to generate a virus with preferred specificity for cancer cells as a possible new therapy for cancer.
Laboratory studies have shown that ColoAd1 has selectivity for killing cancer cells from a wide range of solid tumour types but shows little or no activity on normal tissue. Compared to other oncolytic viruses in development as cancer therapies, ColoAd1 has been shown to retain a high level of activity in human blood. This means that it could potentially be administered systemically as a treatment for cancer that has already spread to other tissues, known as metastatic disease.
PsiOxus will use the Translation Award from the Wellcome Trust to conduct a phase I/II clinical trial of ColoAd1 in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, to determine the safety and tolerability of the virus. Future studies are also planned in patients with other solid tumour types, including primary hepatocellular cancer and ovarian cancer.
Psioxus CEO Dr John Beadle said: "We are delighted that our innovative oncolytic product has gained recognition by the UK's leading biomedical foundation, the Wellcome Trust. This funding will enable a key clinical trial to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of intravenous administration of ColoAd1 to patients with metastatic cancer."
Image: Cultured colon cancer cells. Credit: Lorna McInroy, Wellcome Images.
