Transgene (company)

Last updated
Transgene S.A.
Company type Public (S.A.)
Euronext Paris:  TNG
Industry
FoundedDecember 1979
Founders
Headquarters
Illkirch-Graffenstaden
,
France
Key people
Dr Alessandro Riva (President and CEO as of 2023)
Website www.transgene.fr

Transgene S.A. is a French biotechnology company founded in 1979. It is based in Illkirch-Graffenstaden, near Strasbourg, Alsace. The company develops and manufactures immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer. Based on viral vectors, these therapies stimulate the immune defenses of patients to specifically target cancer cells.

Contents

Transgene has two technological platforms based on these respective approaches: individual therapeutic vaccines, shared antigens cancer vaccines oncolytic viruses.

Transgene’s portfolio consists of four products currently in clinical development. Its lead product TG4050, a neoantigen individualized therapeutic cancer vaccine is currently being developed in a randomized Phase I/II trial in the adjuvant treatment of head and neck cancer.

The company is listed on the regulated market of Euronext in Paris [1] .

History

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. [2]

Dr Alessandro Riva, MD, joined Transgene in 2022 as Chairman of the Board of Directors. In May 2023 the board appointed him Chairman adn Chief Executive Officer of the company [3] , [4] .

Technological platforms

Transgene owns two technological platforms:

Products in development

The Company has several clinical-stage products in its portfolio.

1- TG4050 : This neoantigen individualized therapeutic cancer vaccine is currently being developed in a randomized Phase I/II trial in the adjuvant treatment of head and neck cancer [11] .

2- TG4001 : is a therapeutic vaccine designed to express the E6 and E7 antigens of the HPV-16 virus (human papillomavirus type 16). [12] Transgene is currently evaluating the full study results in detail to determine the best way forward for this program [13] .

3- Oncolytic viruses: TG6050 and BT-001. Transgene’s oncolytic viruses are designed to directly and selectively destroy the cancer cells by using an oncolysis mechanism, while also inducing immune responses against tumor cells. In addition, during their replication, the virus expresses the payloads integrated in its genome and therefore allows the expression of immunomodulators and/or therapeutic agents specifically in the tumors [14] , [15] , [16] , [17] , [18] [19] .

4- Transgene and AstraZeneca have been collaborating since 2019 to co-develop oncolytic viruses from the Invir.IO™ platform. [20] [21] [22]

Management Committee

Transgene’s Management Committee is composed of the following members:

Related Research Articles

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cancer immunotherapy</span> Artificial stimulation of the immune system to treat cancer

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viral vector</span> Biotechnology to deliver genetic material into a cell

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.

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.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennerex</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Talimogene laherparepvec</span> Gene therapy medication

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.

John Howard Sampson is an American neurosurgeon and University of Colorado School of Medicine Dean and Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs for CU Anschutz who was formerly chief of the department of neurosurgery at Duke University where he serves as a professor of surgery, biomedical engineering, immunology, and pathology.

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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.

Individualized medicine tailors treatment to a single patient. The term refers to an individual, truly personalized medicine that strives to treat each patient on the basis of his own individual biology.

SillaJen, Inc. is a South Korea-based biotechnology company, with offices in Busan, Yangsan and Seoul, South Korea, and San Francisco, California.

Neoepitopes are a class of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) bounded peptides. They represent the antigenic determinants of neoantigens. Neoepitopes are recognized by the immune system as targets for T cells and can elicit immune response to cancer.

Individualized cancer immunotherapy, also referred to as individualized immuno-oncology, is a novel concept for therapeutic cancer vaccines that are truly personalized to a single individual.

Gritstone bio is a clinical-stage American biotechnology company which develops cancer and infectious disease immunotherapies and vaccines. It was founded in August 2015 as Gritstone Oncology, Inc., and is based in Emeryville, California.

References

  1. ↑ "TRANSGENE € 0,702 | Euronext Live cours de bourse". live.euronext.com. Retrieved 2024-12-22.
  2. ↑ Lathe, Richard; Kieny, Marie Paule (2021-04-26). The Early Development of the Vaccinia–Rabies Recombinant Vaccine Raboral®. IntechOpen. ISBN   978-1-83969-230-7.
  3. ↑ "Transgene Strengthens its Leadership Team to Accelerate its Growth Strategy". Archived from the original on 2023-12-05. Retrieved 2024-12-26.
  4. ↑ "French biotech company posts promising results for cancer vaccines". 2023-10-12. Retrieved 2024-12-26.
  5. ↑ Foloppe, Johann; Kempf, Juliette; Futin, Nicolas; Kintz, Jacqueline; Cordier, Pascale; Pichon, Christelle; Findeli, Annie; Vorburger, Fabien; Quemeneur, Eric; Erbs, Philippe (September 2019). "The Enhanced Tumor Specificity of TG6002, an Armed Oncolytic Vaccinia Virus Deleted in Two Genes Involved in Nucleotide Metabolism". Molecular Therapy - Oncolytics. 14: 1–14. doi:10.1016/j.omto.2019.03.005. PMC   6461584 . PMID   31011628.
  6. ↑ Gallardo, Franck; Schmitt, Doris; Brandely, Renée; Brua, Catherine; Silvestre, Nathalie; Findeli, Annie; Foloppe, Johann; Top, Sokunthea; Kappler-Gratias, Sandrine; Quentin-Froignant, Charlotte; Morin, Renaud; Lagarde, Jean-Michel; Bystricky, Kerstin; Bertagnoli, Stéphane; Erbs, Philippe (26 November 2020). "Fluorescent Tagged Vaccinia Virus Genome Allows Rapid and Efficient Measurement of Oncolytic Potential and Discovery of Oncolytic Modulators". Biomedicines. 8 (12): 543. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines8120543 . PMC   7760631 . PMID   33256205.
  7. ↑ Kleinpeter, Patricia; Fend, Laetitia; Thioudellet, Christine; Geist, Michel; Sfrontato, Nathalie; Koerper, Véronique; Fahrner, Catherine; Schmitt, Doris; Gantzer, Murielle; Remy-Ziller, Christelle; Brandely, Renée; Villeval, Dominique; Rittner, Karola; Silvestre, Nathalie; Erbs, Philippe; Zitvogel, Laurence; Quéméneur, Eric; Préville, Xavier; Marchand, Jean-Baptiste (2 October 2016). "Vectorization in an oncolytic vaccinia virus of an antibody, a Fab and a scFv against programmed cell death -1 (PD-1) allows their intratumoral delivery and an improved tumor-growth inhibition". OncoImmunology. 5 (10): e1220467. doi:10.1080/2162402X.2016.1220467. PMC   5087307 . PMID   27853644.
  8. ↑ "Transgene, NEC, BostonGene collaborate for ovarian and head & neck cancers trials". www.biospectrumasia.com.
  9. ↑ Bendjama, Kaïdre; Quemeneur, Eric (2 September 2017). "Modified Vaccinia virus Ankara-based vaccines in the era of personalized immunotherapy of cancer". Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics. 13 (9): 1997–2003. doi:10.1080/21645515.2017.1334746. PMC   5612284 . PMID   28846477.
  10. ↑ "NEC and Transgene announce a collaboration in the field of individualized cancer immunotherapy, leveraging NEC's AI and Transgene's myvac™ platform". NEC.
  11. ↑ "French cancer vaccine shows promise against recurrent tumours". RFI. 2023-06-11. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
  12. ↑ "TG4001 HPV Cancer Vaccine".
  13. ↑ S.A, Transgene (2024-10-14). "Transgene Provides Update on Phase II Trial of Therapeutic Cancer Vaccine TG4001 in Recurrent or Metastatic HPV16-Positive Cervical and Anogenital Cancers". GlobeNewswire News Room. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
  14. ↑ Foloppe, Johann; Kempf, Juliette; Futin, Nicolas; Kintz, Jacqueline; Cordier, Pascale; Pichon, Christelle; Findeli, Annie; Vorburger, Fabien; Quemeneur, Eric; Erbs, Philippe (27 September 2019). "The Enhanced Tumor Specificity of TG6002, an Armed Oncolytic Vaccinia Virus Deleted in Two Genes Involved in Nucleotide Metabolism". Molecular Therapy - Oncolytics. 14: 1–14. doi:10.1016/j.omto.2019.03.005. PMC   6461584 . PMID   31011628.
  15. ↑ "First person enrolled in Phase I oncolytic virus trial".
  16. ↑ Clinical trial number NCT04725331 for "A Clinical Trial Assessing BT-001 Alone and in Combination With Pembrolizumab in Metastatic or Advanced Solid Tumors" at ClinicalTrials.gov
  17. ↑ "Regulatory actions for May 27, 2021".
  18. ↑ "BioInvent presents proof-of-concept data on anti-FcyRIIB antibody BI-1607 at AACR Annual Meeting 2021".
  19. ↑ S.A, Transgene (2024-11-07). "Transgene Reports Business, Pipeline and Financial Update for Q3 2024". GlobeNewswire News Room. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
  20. ↑ "AstraZeneca ties up with France's Transgene to develop viral immunotherapies". Reuters. 2 May 2019.
  21. ↑ "Transgene's armed oncolytic virus technology draws AZ in potential five-product deal".
  22. ↑ "AstraZeneca adds oncolytic virus option through Transgene deal".
  23. ↑ "Transgene Announces New Leadership Structure to Accelerate the Development of its Innovative Immunotherapy Portfolio". Archived from the original on 2023-05-15. Retrieved 2024-12-26.
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