Personalised Pancreatic Cancer Vaccination Therapy derived from Autologous Tumor Cells and Neoantigens - PanCaVax

Programme(s):
H2020-EU.3. - PRIORITY 'Societal challenges
H2020-EU.2.3. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
H2020-EU.2.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies

Topic(s): EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020 - SME instrument

Call for proposal: H2020-SMEInst-2018-2020-1

Funding Scheme: SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1

Grant agreement ID: 836361

Objective
CyTuVax B.V. is a biotech enterprise founded in Maastricht (the Netherlands) in October 2012. It applies depot-formulated cytokines (interaction molecules of the immune system), which enhance immune responses in an unprecedented manner when used in extremely high local density. Single and multi-cytokine combinations can be formulated by simple procedures and act as strong adjuvants, driving immune responses to their limits. It is a universal, patented platform adjuvant technology that can be applied to any vaccines and can have great influence on future vaccine technology. CyTuVax achieved the first clinical proof of concept in a Phase I trial in which 90% of hepatitis B non-responders were successfully vaccinated. Phase II is on-going. CyTuVax decided now to focus on the challenging problem of developing a vaccine for pancreatic cancer, a deadly disease for which no curative treatment exists. Its cancer vaccination therapy (PanCaVax) should substantially improve the life-expectancy by extending the median survival rate to at least 12-24 months. Costs of PanCaVax will be considerably less compared to checkpoint inhibitor antibodies, with locally strong, but systemically mild, side effects expected. CyTuVax’ highly motivated team’s next step is to complete the preclinical development of PanCaVax. Key impact of our innovation would be that it is providing a favorable clinical outcome and sufficient proof of efficacy to obtain financial resources for next steps in Phase IIb/IIIa, regulatory approval and ultimate access to pancreatic cancer patients currently lacking an acceptable therapy.