On April 25, 2000 A new company, Crusade Laboratories, has recently reported to have been launched by Cancer Research Ventures and the University of Glasgow with funding provided by a private Jersey-based investor. Crusade Labs, based in Glasgow, will pursue the development of variants of Herpes Simplex Viruses for the treatment of cancers which have shown promising results in Phase I clinical trials (Press release, Cancer Research Technology, APR 25, 2000, View Source [SID1234523480]).

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Pre-clinical studies in animal models have shown HSV 1716 invades and kills tumour cells but not normal cells. Human clinical trials are taking place in patients suffering from glioblastoma or melanoma, using a specific gene-deleted variant of the herpes simplex virus, HSV1716. These trials are proving successful with some preliminary evidence of the ability of HSV1716 to prolong the life of terminally ill brain cancer patients.

Further clinical trials are being planned by Crusade and aimed at providing additional safety data and investigate the effectiveness of the HSV1716 therapy in increasing the life span of patients with brain cancer beyond that of existing treatments.

The clinical trials are the result of 10 years of research by Professor Moira Brown and Dr Alistair MacLean at the Department of Neuroscience, University of Glasgow, Southern General Hospital. The clinical development of the HSV1716 is being led by Dr Roy Rampling at the University of Glasgow and Professor Garth Cruikshank of the Department of Neurosciences, University of Birmingham, Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Professor Brown, who is the new Chief Scientific Officer of Crusade Labs, commented,"I am particularly pleased that the potential of our research in cancer therapy has been realised by Cancer Research Ventures and the University of Glasgow and that with funding provided by Dayspring Ventures, we have been able to set up ‘Crusade Labs’. The success of the clinical trials in translating our research to patients has demonstrated that the determination and commitment of my small team has been worthwhile. The establishment of Crusade will allow us to accelerate both the clinical trials and the development of novel products with enhanced tumour killing capacity. It is an exciting prospect and a great start to the new millennium."

Cancer Research Ventures, together with the Research & Enterprise office, University of Glasgow have worked together to commercialise Professor Brown’s research and to establish Crusade Laboratories. Crusade has been granted an exclusive worldwide license by the University to all the patent rights covering both the first and second generation HSV variants. Crusade will use its funds to advance the clinical trials and develop its intellectual property base.

"This is clearly an exciting opportunity for all of us. It is rare these days to be able to establish a company around a product that has already completed two clinical trials and yielded very promising results. The potential of the second generation products currently under development to treat a range of cancers is very exciting." Commented Cancer Research Venture’s Chief Operation Officer, Dr Guy Heathers.

"We are delighted at the formation of this new company and hopeful that the HSV 1716 therapy will have a major impact in the fight against cancer. Crusade Laboratories has the potential to be a significant player in this market and has a base that could lead to the development of drugs for a range of cancers as well as novel vaccines" commented Mel Anderson , a Commercialistion Manager in the University’s Research & Enterprise office.

University of Glasgow is one of the largest research-based Universities in Scotland. Annual research income is in excess of £70m and is primarily focused in the areas of life and biomedical sciences, medicine, veterinary sciences and engineering.

Research & Enterprise, University of Glasgow is the University’s commercial office responsible for all grants, contracts, intellectual property management and technology transfer activities.