In this Eurostars supported project, 2A Pharma is developing a therapeutic head and neck cancer vaccine in collaboration with the Danish Technological Institute and DNA Sense.

Antibody based medicines have been shown to be effective in the treatment of a range of cancers. However, due to a complex and time-consuming production process, antibody based drugs tend to be expensive and some can have serious immune-related side effects. The MimoVac-E vaccine will be an active immune-oncology product that stimulates the patients own immune system to generate antibodies that will attack the cancerous cells. This strategi will ensure a high-level of antibodies and we expect long-term effect with fewer side effects. We expect the vaccine will be used to treat patients with metastases and to prevent relapse after other treatments.

Our development is based on an FDA approved antibody-based oncology drug. Our collaboration partners, Danish Technological Institute and DNA Sense, will screen a large number of peptide libraries to identify mimotopes , amino acid sequences that mimic the cellular structure of the surface of cancer cells. Vaccines will then be produced by cloning the mimotopes into 2A Pharma’s AAVLP vaccine platform.

The global market for immune-oncology products is expected to double from USD 15 to 30 billion within the next five years. The MimoVac-E vaccine under development is initially targeting head and neck cancers but may also have potential in other types, including colorectal and hepatocellular carcinoma.