GREENWICH, Conn., Jan. 14, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- OncoSynergy, Inc., a patient-focused oncology company committed to advancing therapeutics to address dire unmet medical needs, announces today that the company has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant valued at $300,000 from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). This award will support the development of an oncolytic virus that expresses a fragment of OncoSynergy's proprietary antibody, OS2966, the first-ever IND approved anti-CD29 (beta 1 integrin) therapeutic. This is the company's first STTR award.
"I am thrilled to be working with Dr. Anne-Marie Carbonell on this project, who shares the vision of developing safe and effective cancer treatments for patients," said Balveen Kaur, PhD, Vice Chair of Research at Department of Neurosurgery, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and Co-Investigator for the project. "OncoSynergy's commitment to fighting the most formidable cancers shines light on immunotherapies like OS2966 and will shape the future approach to cancer treatment."
Preliminary testing of OS2966 in combination with the oncolytic herpes simplex virus-1 (oHSV) demonstrates the synergistic potential of the combinatory treatment approach to improve the anti-tumor efficacy of conventional oHSV therapy. In fact, Dr. Kaur's lab reports that OS2966 treatment resulted in enhanced oHSV replication and tumor cell death in animal models of triple-negative breast cancer and glioblastoma.
"By engineering an oncolytic virus that expresses our first-in-class antibody, OS2966, we hope to unleash the full power of oncolytic viral therapy to the dramatic benefit of patients suffering from glioblastoma and other cancers," said Anne-Marie Carbonell, MD, CEO and Chief Medical Officer of OncoSynergy. "We are grateful for NCI's recognition of the breakthrough potential of this project and are excited to see years of collaboration with Dr. Kaur's lab come to fruition."
Currently, the company is preparing for their Phase I clinical trial to evaluate OS2966 in patients with recurrent glioblastoma and is set to enroll their first patient Q1 2020.
About OncoSynergy: OncoSynergy is a privately held, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. Founded in 2011, the company employs a patient-focused and lean capital efficient approach to the development of innovative therapies for cancers of high unmet need and of high commercial value. OncoSynergy's lead therapeutic, OS2966, is the first-ever clinical-ready CD29 antibody under development for treatment of diverse cancers. It's mechanism of action involves targeting fundamental interactions in the tumor microenvironment driving cancer progression, growth and treatment resistance. OS2966 was recently granted Investigational New Drug (IND) approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This IND approval enables OncoSynergy to initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating OS2966 in patients with recurrent glioblastoma, the most aggressive and deadly brain cancer.
About the National Cancer Institute (NCI): NCI leads the National Cancer Program and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) efforts to dramatically reduce the prevalence of cancer and improve the lives of cancer patients and their families, through research into prevention and cancer biology, the development of new interventions, and the training and mentoring of new researchers. For more information about cancer, please visit the NCI website at cancer.gov or call NCI's contact center, the Cancer Information Service, at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237).
SOURCE OncoSynergy, Inc.
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