Vaccibody, the Norway-based biotech led by the Chairman of Danish industry organization Dansk Biotek, Martin Bonde, has reinforced its financial foundation with a sizeable public research grant.

The company says in a release Monday that it has been awarded a grant of up to NOK 20 million (USD 2.3 million) over four years from the Norwegian Research Council ‘s BIA Program.

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The funds will be used to develop therapeutic cancer vaccines based on each patient’s specific neoantigens. Neoantigens are tumor-specific mutations in cancer cells. Vaccibody’s DNA vaccine technology offers the potential to develop and manufacture more effective therapeutic cancer vaccines based on these neoantigens.

“We are very encouraged by the support from BIA. This funding will help accelerate our efforts to explore our unique technology in an intriguing new field of cancer immunotherapy. We believe that the Vaccibody DNA vaccine platform is especially well suited for neoantigen-based cancer vaccine development and we are confident that we have put together a great team to support the entire chain of events needed to explore this exciting new project ” says CEO Martin Bonde.

To increase the chance of success, Vaccibody has put together a strong team with national and international partners with expertise in bioinformatics, vaccine delivery and translational research, it says. The project seeks to complete a clinical proof of concept study with the neoantigen-based Vaccibody DNA cancer vaccines in advanced cancer patients.

The lead product, VB10.16 immunotherapy, is currently tested in a multicentre phase I/IIa study for the treatment of high grade Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia (CIN 2/3) caused by human papillomavirus 16 (HPV 16).

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- translated by Martin Havtorn Petersen

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