Transgene remains confident on potential of oncolytic viruses, post Pexa-Vec failure

Following the independent Data Monitoring Committee (IDMC) of the  PHOCUS trial of Pexa-Vec in liver cancer recommending the study be terminated, French biotech company Transgene (Euronext Paris: TNG) said it is currently analyzing the data of the trial it received from its partner SillaJen (Kosdaq: 215600), notably in the context of the ongoing Phase II clinical trial evaluating the combination regimen of Pexa-Vec and the immunotherapy nivolumab in the same indication. The recommendation to stop the PHOCUS trial is not caused by safety issues of Pexa-Vec.

Transgene is convinced of the great potential of oncolytic viruses (OV) as this therapeutic class displays numerous advantages that are acknowledged by the scientific and medical community. These include the ability of the viruses to infect and selectively replicate within the tumor, inducing cancer cell destruction, and to elicit a strong immune response against the tumor.

Transgene novel proprietary OV platform Invir.IO allows the arming of these viruses to trigger the expression of anticancer weapons directly in the tumor, thus increasing the efficacy of these molecules while reducing their possible side effects.