Defence Therapeutics Inc., a Canadian biopharmaceutical company specialising in the development of immune-oncology vaccines and drug delivery technologies, is pleased to announce the advancement in the development of its AccumTM -mRNA vaccine programme.
This R&D programme will not only impact the field of cancer immunotherapy but can also be directly applied to the development of new vaccines that can target infectious diseases.
The mRNA vaccination approach offers tremendous advantages over the use of peptide- or protein-based vaccines. mRNA like any other biomolecule is extremely sensitive to harsh conditions such as high acidity and enzymatic reactions, which would directly impede their therapeutic potency. Additionally, mRNA molecules need to reach the cytoplasm where they can be efficiently translated into full proteins, this is where AccumTM may add stability and potency.
Defence is working with a private European company to synthesise mRNA vaccine coupled with its AccumTM. Defence has now completed the first phase of its AccumTM-mRNA vaccine development by achieving the synthesis and quality control of the amino-modified polyA tail Ova mRNA. Defence is advancing on the second step, which consists of coupling AccumTM variants to amino-modified mRNA as well as testing and analyzing: i) the effect of AccumTM and linkers on mRNA stability, ii) the linker coupling onto amino-modified mRNA, iii) the AccumTM coupling onto linker-amino modified mRNA, and finally, iv) the purification and analysis of the AccumTM-linker-amino-modified mRNA.
New vaccines will be produced in 2023
The third and final step of this Accum-mRNA vaccine development, scheduled at the end of January 2023, will be the production of a small vaccine batch to conduct in vivo studies in animals as a head-to-head comparison between AccumTM-linked and “naked” mRNA vaccines for their potential to generate an immune response capable of eradicating and controlling established tumours.
“The development of our AccumTM-mRNA vaccine is on track, our in vivo study on animals with pre-established solid tumours is planned for this quarter with the objective to demonstrate that AccumTM can significantly enhance the therapeutic potency of a given mRNA vaccine,” says Mr Plouffe, CEO of Defence Therapeutics.
The mRNA therapeutics market size is projected to surpass around USD 128.14 billion by 2030 and grow at a registered CAGR of 13.03% from 2022 to 2030 according to Precedence Research.
About Defence:
Defence Therapeutics is a publicly-traded biotechnology company working on engineering the next generation of vaccines and ADC products using its proprietary platform. The core of Defence Therapeutics platform is the ACCUMTM technology, which enables precision delivery of vaccine antigens or ADCs in their intact form to target cells. As a result, increased efficacy and potency can be reached against catastrophic illnesses such as cancer and infectious diseases.
