Immunotherapy is at the forefront of cancer care; however, most cancers evolve the ability to dodge the body’s defenses.
Maryland startup BeneVir is developing immunotherapy viruses that rid the body of two types of tumor cells – those that cause cancer and the ones that make it recurrent.
The three-year-old company just closed the first tranche of a $12 million round. It just raised $2 million from a single investor, Pansend LLC, and expects to raise $6 million and $4 million in two remaining tranches.
The money will go toward the first proof-of-concept clinical studies, expand the startup’s pipeline and “establish partnerships to test promising combination therapies in a diverse set of metastatic solid tumors.”
BeneVir says its platform works as such:
Once inside tumors, the viruses selectively destroy cancer cells, augment antigen presentation in infected tumor cells in order to evade elimination by the immune system, and remodel antigen presentation in APC so that two classes of anti-tumor T-cells are activated. One class kills “immune-susceptible” tumor cells and the other kills “immune-evading” cells.
This multi-mechanistic approach builds upon clinically successful elements of both oncolytic virus and immune-checkpoint inhibitor approaches to cancer treatment and is designed to block the major methods tumors use to subvert the immune system. This strategy promises to induce tumor remission in patients with a wide range of solid tumors and then guard against tumor recurrence; in other words, achieve a durable cure.
The technology was developed by New York University prof Ian J. Mohr, and is licensed out of NYU’s Langone Medical Center. Mohr’s claim to fame is that he discovered and patented SUP1, which is an attenuated, replication-competent Herpes Simplex Virus. The patent was licensed to BioVex, the anticancer virus-maker that was bought by Amgen a few years ago for more than $1 billion.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Notably, BeneVir was one of the startups showcased in this year’s TedMed Hive. There’s a good interview on the site. Here’s an excerpt:
Q: Please tell us how your business idea was conceived. Was there an “aha” moment or did it evolve gradually?
A: Our business idea was conceived as a result of two “aha” moments. The first was when, after deciphering its tumor-killing mechanism, we saw how to improve on a product that had completed its final human testing phase. The second was when we discovered that the strategy we chose to make a better product also had the ability to solve a big problem in cancer immunotherapy. It was sort of like building a better mouse trap and then realizing that the mouse trap also has the ability to train your hamster to catch mice.
