CureVac and MD Anderson Cancer Center Join Forces for mRNA Cancer Vaccines
The collaboration will prioritize the development of cancer vaccine candidates for both hematological and solid tumor indications, to address unmet medical needs.
CureVac, a biopharmaceutical company, recently announced a partnership with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. This collaboration aims to advance cancer patient care, research, education, and prevention. The collaboration will focus on the development of mRNA treatments for cancer, with CureVac and MD Anderson working together to support and advance these treatments. CureVac has been granted exclusive global rights for the advanced development, commercialization, and potential partnerships of the candidates. MD Anderson has the opportunity to receive payments in the future if there is potential for commercialization.
CureVac will leverage its comprehensive capabilities in cancer antigen discovery, mRNA design, and manufacturing, in collaboration with MD Anderson's extensive expertise in cancer antigen discovery and validation, translational drug development, and clinical research. The collaboration will prioritize the creation of vaccines to address the specific needs of patients with hematological and solid tumor indications, where there is currently a lack of effective treatments. Both groups will collaborate to identify differential cancer antigens using advanced sequencing techniques, including whole genome sequencing and long- and short-read RNA sequencing.
Sachet Shukla, PhD, is an assistant professor specializing in Hematopoietic Biology & Malignancy. He also serves as the director of the cancer vaccine program within the department. Additionally, he leads MD Anderson's Evolution of Cancer, Leukemia, and Immunity Post Stem Cell Transplant (ECLIPSE) platform, which is part of the institution's Therapeutics Discovery division. His role involves providing preclinical validation for the most effective cancer antigens. MD Anderson will proceed with initial Phase I/II studies of the validated candidates once the investigational new drug approvals are obtained.
Jeffrey Molldrem, MD, chair of Hematopoietic Biology and Malignancy and leader of the ECLIPSE platform at MD Anderson, expressed his dedication to advancing immunotherapies that have the potential to greatly improve the lives of cancer patients. The ECLIPSE team utilizes a proprietary high-throughput technology to identify and validate immune targets, ensuring their work is impactful and transformative. They aim to explore this fascinating field of drug discovery and development alongside CureVac, to create mRNA vaccines to meet important medical needs.
In a November 2023 interview with Pharmaceutical Technology®, Zehnder discussed the advancements in mRNA technology and how CureVac has developed The CureVac method through years of work, research, and nucleotide analysis. The goal is to overcome the instability of mRNA molecules. The company conducted an extensive analysis of numerous naturally occurring sequences to gain a deeper understanding of the inherent language of RNA. These discoveries led to the creation of a comprehensive nucleotide sequence library in our organization. This library enables us to piece together the mRNA puzzle for therapeutic purposes without the need for extra chemical modifications in the RNA.
Source: CureVacto address
