PhotonPharma & Terumo to collaborate on cancer vaccine

Medical device company Terumo has teamed with immunotherapy developer PhotonPharma on a collaboration to develop a vaccine for solid tumours.

The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to develop Innocell, a novel tumour specific immunotherapy.

By working together, both Terumo and PhotonPharma hope they can help improve the speed to market for valuable treatments.

Therapeutic cancer vaccines are developed to stimulate a patient’s immune system to fight established cancer. They are different from prophylactic vaccines, which are given to healthy individuals to prevent infection and related diseases. PhotonPharma developed its technology to be differentiated from other therapeutic cancer vaccines in its potential to preserve solid tumour antigens, cell metabolism and protein translation while also potentially achieving inactivation of cellular replication.

This MOU is the first part of a longer-term collaboration to advance PhotonPharma’s Innocell. The collaboration focuses on the development, regulatory approval and future commercialisation of PhotonPharma's Innocell vaccine. PhotonPharma is currently preparing an Investigational New Drug (IND) submission related to a phase I clinical trial targeting triple-negative breast cancer. 

To help in the cancer immunotherapy development process, PhotonPharma is using Terumo’s Mirasol(R) Pathogen Reduction Technology (PRT) in the manufacturing process. This will help PhotonPharma’s regulatory submission for its Innocell therapeutic vaccine technology given that the Mirasol system is already on record with the FDA. Mirasol has been designed to reduce pathogen load and inactivate residual white blood cells in whole blood and blood components.

“This agreement to work together with Terumo increases the potential to advance a new therapy for patients suffering from a variety of solid tumour malignancies including breast cancer,” said Dr Gary Gordon, former Divisional Vice President of Abbvie Oncology and PhotonPharma board member.

“Working together will benefit patients in need of new therapeutic approaches to treat their underlying disease.”Antoinette Gawin, president and chief executive officer, Terumo Blood and Cell Technologies, said: “For Terumo, strategic collaborations increase the potential speed to market and decrease development costs of therapies. This will enable patients to benefit from therapies earlier. Contributing toward the development and commercialisation of Innocell enables Terumo to contribute toward the next potential major medical breakthrough.”