Company type | Public (S.A.) |
---|---|
Euronext Paris: TNG | |
Industry | |
Founded | December 1979 |
Founders |
|
Headquarters | , |
Key people | Hedi Ben Brahim (President and CEO) |
Website | www.transgene.fr |
Transgene S.A. is a French biotechnology company founded in 1979. It is based in Illkirch-Graffenstaden, near Strasbourg, and develops and manufactures immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer.
The company has two technological platforms based on these respective approaches: myvac (therapeutic vaccines) and Invir.IO (oncolytic viruses). Transgene’s portfolio consists of four products currently in clinical development.
Since January 2021, Hedi Ben Brahim has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Transgene SA. The company is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange. [1] [2]
Transgene was founded in 1979, on the initiative of Pierre Chambon and Philippe Kourilsky. Jean-Pierre Lecocq was the first Scientific Director of Transgene in 1980. [3]
Transgene owns two technological platforms:
The Company has 4 clinical-stage products in its portfolio. These candidates are distinguished according to two product categories: therapeutic vaccines and oncolytic viruses.
• Therapeutic vaccines:
- “TG4001” is a therapeutic vaccine designed to express the E6 and E7 antigens of the HPV-16 virus (human papillomavirus type 16). [10] It is currently in a Phase Ib/II clinical trial [11] evaluating TG4001 in combination with avelumab (in collaboration with Merck KGaA and Pfizer) in patients with advanced or metastatic HPV-16 positive cancers. [12] [13]
- “TG4050” is an individualized immunotherapy from the myvac® platform. This candidate is currently evaluated in two Phase I clinical trials in ovarian cancer and Head and Neck cancer. [14] [15] [16] The trials are enrolling patients in the US, in France, and in the UK. [17]
• Oncolytic viruses
- “TG6002” is an oncolytic virus designed to express a recombinant enzyme within tumor cells capable of converting 5-FC (5-fluorocytosine) into 5-FU (5-fluorouracil), a chemotherapy agent. [18] The expression of this enzyme is enabled by the addition of the FCU1 gene into the viral DNA of TG6002. [19]
- “BT-001” is an oncolytic virus derived from Invir.IO™ platform. [20] It has been modified to encode the anti-CTLA4 antibody and the cytokine GM-CSF to target the tumor microenvironment. BT-001 is currently being evaluated in a Phase I/II clinical trial in solid tumors. [21] [22] Transgene is collaborating with BioInvent for the development of this product.[ citation needed ] [23]
- Transgene and AstraZeneca have been collaborating since 2019 to co-develop oncolytic viruses from the Invir.IO™ platform. [24] [25] [26]
Transgene’s Management Committee is composed of the following members:
A cancer vaccine, or oncovaccine, is a vaccine that either treats existing cancer or prevents development of cancer. Vaccines that treat existing cancer are known as therapeutic cancer vaccines or tumor antigen vaccines. Some of the vaccines are "autologous", being prepared from samples taken from the patient, and are specific to that patient.
Cancer immunotherapy (immuno-oncotherapy) is the stimulation of the immune system to treat cancer, improving the immune system's natural ability to fight the disease. It is an application of the fundamental research of cancer immunology (immuno-oncology) and a growing subspecialty of oncology.
An oncolytic virus is a virus that preferentially infects and kills cancer cells. As the infected cancer cells are destroyed by oncolysis, they release new infectious virus particles or virions to help destroy the remaining tumour. Oncolytic viruses are thought not only to cause direct destruction of the tumour cells, but also to stimulate host anti-tumour immune system responses. Oncolytic viruses also have the ability to affect the tumor micro-environment in multiple ways.
Virotherapy is a treatment using biotechnology to convert viruses into therapeutic agents by reprogramming viruses to treat diseases. There are three main branches of virotherapy: anti-cancer oncolytic viruses, viral vectors for gene therapy and viral immunotherapy. These branches use three different types of treatment methods: gene overexpression, gene knockout, and suicide gene delivery. Gene overexpression adds genetic sequences that compensate for low to zero levels of needed gene expression. Gene knockout uses RNA methods to silence or reduce expression of disease-causing genes. Suicide gene delivery introduces genetic sequences that induce an apoptotic response in cells, usually to kill cancerous growths. In a slightly different context, virotherapy can also refer more broadly to the use of viruses to treat certain medical conditions by killing pathogens.
Modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) is an attenuated (weakened) strain of the vaccinia virus. It is being used as a vaccine against smallpox and mpox, having fewer side effects than smallpox vaccines derived from other poxviruses.
Advaxis Inc. is an American company devoted to the discovery, development and commercialization of immunotherapies based on a technology platform which uses engineered Listeria monocytogenes. The company is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey and was incorporated in Delaware in 2006.
Viral vectors are modified viruses designed to deliver genetic material into cells. This process can be performed inside an organism or in cell culture. Viral vectors have widespread applications in basic research, agriculture, and medicine.
Cancer immunoprevention is the prevention of cancer onset with immunological means such as vaccines, immunostimulators or antibodies. Cancer immunoprevention is conceptually different from cancer immunotherapy, which aims at stimulating immunity in patients only after tumor onset, however the same immunological means can be used both in immunoprevention and in immunotherapy.
Oncolytics Biotech Inc. is a Canadian company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, that is developing an intravenously delivered immuno-oncolytic virus called pelareorep for the treatment of solid tumors and hematological malignancies. Pelareorep is a non-pathogenic, proprietary isolate of the unmodified reovirus that: induces selective tumor lysis and promotes an inflamed tumor phenotype through innate and adaptive immune responses.
Pelareorep is a proprietary isolate of the unmodified human reovirus being developed as a systemically administered immuno-oncological viral agent for the treatment of solid tumors and hematological malignancies. Pelareorep is an oncolytic virus, which means that it preferentially lyses cancer cells. Pelareorep also promotes an inflamed tumor phenotype through innate and adaptive immune responses. Preliminary clinical trials indicate that it may have anti-cancer effects across a variety of cancer types when administered alone and in combination with other cancer therapies.
Neuvenge, Lapuleucel-T, is a therapeutic cancer vaccine (TCV) in development by Dendreon (DNDN). It uses the "immunotherapy platform approach" first successfully demonstrated on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved TCV Provenge. It was first tested on breast cancer patients with tumors expressing HER2/neu, and is now scheduled to be tested on bladder cancer patients.
JX-594 is an oncolytic virus is designed to target and destroy cancer cells. It is also known as Pexa-Vec, INN pexastimogene devacirepvec) and was constructed in Dr. Edmund Lattime's lab at Thomas Jefferson University, tested in clinical trials on melanoma patients, and licensed and further developed by SillaJen.
Jennerex Biotherapeutics, Inc. was an American private biopharmaceutical company that developed the oncolytic viruses JX-594 and JX-929 among others. By creating oncolytic viruses that can (1) kill tumor cells directly through lysis, (2) activate the immune system by delivering genes that encode immunostimulants and by overcoming tumor cell-induced immunological tolerance, and (3) reduce tumor nutrient supply through the destruction of blood vessels, Jennerex aimed to create a novel approach to treating and possibly curing cancer.
Talimogene laherparepvec, sold under the brand name Imlygic among others, is a biopharmaceutical medication used to treat melanoma that cannot be operated on; it is injected directly into a subset of lesions which generates a systemic immune response against the recipient's cancer. The final four year analysis from the pivotal phase 3 study upon which TVEC was approved by the FDA showed a 31.5% response rate with a 16.9% complete response (CR) rate. There was also a substantial and statistically significant survival benefit in patients with earlier metastatic disease and in patients who hadn't received prior systemic treatment for melanoma. The earlier stage group had a reduction in the risk of death of approximately 50% with one in four patients appearing to have met, or be close to be reaching, the medical definition of cure. Real world use of talimogene laherparepvec have shown response rates of up to 88.5% with CR rates of up to 61.5%.
Adenovirus varieties have been explored extensively as a viral vector for gene therapy and also as an oncolytic virus.
GL-ONC1 is an investigational therapeutic product consisting of the clinical grade formulation of the laboratory strain GLV-1h68, an oncolytic virus developed by Genelux Corporation. GL-ONC1 is currently under evaluation in Phase I/II human clinical trials in the United States and Europe.
Genelux Corporation is a publicly traded late clinical-stage company developing a pipeline of next-generation oncolytic viral immunotherapies for patients suffering from aggressive and/or difficult-to-treat solid tumor types. The Company’s most advanced product candidate, Olvi-Vec, is a proprietary, modified strain of the vaccinia virus (VACV), a stable DNA virus with a large engineering capacity.
Enadenotucirev is an investigational oncolytic virus that is in clinical trials for various cancers.
SillaJen, Inc. is a South Korea-based biotechnology company, with offices in Busan, Yangsan and Seoul, South Korea, and San Francisco, California.
A therapeutic vaccine is a vaccine which is administered after a disease or infection has already occurred. A therapeutic vaccine works by activating the immune system of a patient to fight an infection. A therapeutic vaccine differs from a prophylactic vaccine in that prophylactic vaccines are administered to individuals as a precautionary measure to avoid the infection or disease while therapeutic vaccines are administered after the individual is already affected by the disease or infection. A therapeutic vaccine fights an existing infection in the body rather than immunizing the body for protection against future diseases and infections. Therapeutic vaccines are mostly used against viral infections. Patients affected with chronic viral infections are administered with therapeutic vaccines, as their immune system is not able to produce enough efficient antibodies.