Los Angeles, California – February 6, 2015. Vault Pharma announced that it has been granted a U.S. patent titled Vault Complexes for Cytokine Delivery. This patent supports Vault Pharma’s ImmunOncologyTM portfolio, a group of new medicines activating specific responses of the immune system to destroy cancer. Vault Pharma’s lead cancer drug, VPI-101, is a cytokine-based immune stimulant that is delivered by a novel human protein nanoparticle, called a vault. VPI-101 is on schedule to begin clinical testing against late-stage lung cancer by the end of 2015.
Vault Pharma (VPI), a biotechnology company developing vault medicines, was granted U.S. patent Vault Complexes for Cytokine Delivery. This patent is part of a multi-patent family protecting VPI’s cytokine-based immune therapy strategy for treating cancer. Discovered by the Rome Laboratory at UCLA, the ImmunOncologyTM portfolio is based on a novel human protein nanoparticle, called a vault. VPI’s therapies are poised to make a clinical impact in multiple metastatic cancers.
The patent is part of an extensive intellectual property portfolio licensed from the University of California Los Angeles and developed by Vault Pharma. “UCLA is a terrific partner for Vault Pharma”, said Oliver Foellmer, VPI’s Chief Operating Officer. “Our ongoing development of the vault technology is strongly supported by strategic collaborations of Vault Pharma with multiple laboratories at the university.”
Vault Pharma is focused on changing the treatment paradigm in cancer. VPI’s ImmunOncologyTM portfolio is based on the unique ability of vault particles to present active payloads to the immune system. “This effect enhances the action of our active ingredient to recruit and educate immune cells to the tumor,” said Professor Leonard Rome. “Vaults really are a unique nanoparticle in that they are inherently a human particle that remains bio-invisible while delivering therapeutic messages to the immune system. Our therapeutic, VPI-101, rallies the patients’ own defenses against the tumor anywhere in the body.” VPI-101 is currently being prepared for clinical testing against late stage lung cancer at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC) and for the initiation of human clinical safety testing by the end of 2015.
VPI-101 will initially be tested in patients with stage IV non small cell lung carcinoma and will ultimately be applied to melanoma and other metastatic cancers. The drug will be the cornerstone of multiple anti-cancer immune therapies being developed by the company that promise to be highly effective, while simultaneously reducing the long-term toxicity associated with today’s chemotherapeutics. VPI-101 is part of a pharmaceutical industry movement of immune modulating drugs making their way toward the cancer market. “Immune Oncology is a hot area today and will grow significantly in the coming years,” said Michael Laznicka, VPI Chairman and CEO. “The most exciting aspect of our ImmunOncologyTM approach is that it is highly synergistic with pharmaceutical checkpoint inhibitor programs. We envision that by combining our vault medicines with other immune therapy approaches we will be able to lower dose-dependent side effects and enhance effectiveness to the point where a discussion of short-term survival can transition to one of curative long-term health.”
