Montréal, QC, July 4, 2023. Louis-Philippe Vézina, CEO of ANGANY, and Réjean Lapointe, principal scientist and head of cancer research at the CHUM Research Centre (CRCHUM), have announced a partnership to develop a next-generation personalized cancer treatment vaccine designed to match each patient’s unique genomic profile.
The research partnership combines one of ANGANY’s innovations in biotechnology—a vaccine vector originally developed for the treatment of allergies—with advances made by Lapointe and the CRCHUM cancer team in tumour mutanome research.
The goal of this partnership is to design a therapeutic vaccine that treats established disease by triggering a personalized immune response against targets on tumour cells that are unique to each patient.
The challenges of developing this type of vaccine are:
- Identifying targets from tumour samples once clinical diagnosis has been made
- Producing a personalized vaccine before the patient’s condition worsens
Lapointe’s highly selective approach to identifying cell targets in the tumour mutanome—targets that are unique to each patient—greatly increases treatment precision, destroying only cancerous cells. ANGANY’s in silico molecular design technology can then be used to design a personalized vaccine that produces a robust immune response against the identified targets in a matter of weeks.
Vézina and Lapointe are grateful to Léon Gosselin for his outstanding generosity and leadership. The invaluable support of the Gosselin family foundation has made it possible for Lapointe and his team at the CRCHUM to mount a research program of this size, which will run for 18 to 24 months. As an early investor, Mr. Gosselin has also supported ANGANY as it expands its development activities to explore the oncology applications of its technology.
“I have always felt that stronger bridges needed to be built between the biotech/pharma industry and researchers at the cutting edge of their fields in academia,” says Vézina. “This is a unique opportunity for ANGANY to work with a world-renowned researcher and to combine his incredible biology-driven approach with the strengths of our eBioparticle™ vector. Significant strides have already been made in passive immunotherapy, in which cancer is treated with large doses of antibodies administered every three to four weeks. We believe it is possible to literally vaccinate patients by mobilizing their immune systems to make their own antibodies to destroy tumour cells and prevent cancer from recurring.”
“We are very excited to be working with Louis-Philippe Vézina and his team,” says Lapointe. “Together, we hope to develop a new generation of personalized biological products and shift the paradigm of cancer treatment.”
About ANGANY
ANGANY is a private French-Canadian late-stage preclinical pharmaceutical company, initially dedicated to the treatment of allergy, for which it has developed an entirely new form of immunotherapy. Its proprietary self-adjuvanted vaccine vector has demonstrated preclinical potential to reverse allergic dynamics. ANGANY expects to begin clinical trials shortly on its first therapeutic vaccine candidate for cat allergy, and another for peanut allergy.
ANGANY has also developed a 3rd generation plant-based biopharmaceutical production platform that is flexible, efficient and easy to scale-up. ANGANY is currently developing products for veterinary use, and is exploring different applications for its vaccine platform in fields such as oncology, degenerative and infectious diseases and others.
About the CRCHUM
The CHUM Research Centre (CRCHUM) is one of North America’s leading hospital research centres. It strives to improve the health of adults through a continuum of research spanning disciplines such as basic science, clinical research and population health. More than 2,150 people work at the CRCHUM, including nearly 500 researchers and nearly 650 students and postdoctoral fellows. crchum.com
About the CHUM Foundation
The CHUM Foundation brings together a community of donors who are committed to the CHUM, a leader in our healthcare system and one of North America’s largest teaching hospitals. The Foundation provides an additional source of funding to help the CHUM remain at the forefront of knowledge and innovation, accelerate its technological development and excel in care, research and teaching—so that no patient is left without hope.
Find out more at fondationduchum.com.
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Source :
Guy Tropper
Executive Vice Président
ANGANY
guy.tropper@angany.com
450-521-1181
