BRIEF—ABL to manufacture oncolytic viruses for KaliVir

ABL, a pure play contract development and manufacturing organization specialized in the development and manufacturing of virus for vaccine candidates, gene and cancer therapies, has announced a collaboration with KaliVir Immunotherapeutics.

USA-based KaliVir is a privately-held biotech company developing cutting-edge, next-generation oncolytic viral immunotherapy programs.

As part of the collaboration, ABL will manufacture KaliVir’s oncolytic viruses for an upcoming clinical trial. The financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.

The partnership will enable ABL, which is part of family-owned French holding company Institut Mérieux, to strengthen its brand-new fixed-bed bioreactor platform, to develop a new generation of oncolytic viruses.

ABL will then provide KaliVir with the material needed to perform its first-in-human study with oncolytic vaccinia virus derived from the Pittsburgh-based company’s proprietary VET platform.