On September 25, 2023 Defence Therapeutics Inc. ("Defence" or the "Company"), a Canadian biopharmaceutical company specialized in the development of immune-oncology vaccines and drug delivery technologies, reported that its encapsulation strategy used to generate Accum-mRNA lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) results in an antibody response that is twice as potent as standard mRNA LNPs (Press release, Defence Therapeutics, SEP 25, 2023, View Source;utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=defences-accum-mrna-lipid-nanoparticles-elicit-antibody-response-2x-stronger-than-standard-mrna-vaccines [SID1234635380]). These results constitute a strong basis for conducting additional tests to optimize Defence’s mRNA vaccine pipeline.
Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:
Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing
Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!
This in vivo study had two main objectives: testing multiple LNP formulations and comparing their induced immune responses to standard mRNA. All vaccines were delivered as part of a prime-boost vaccination protocol with animal bleeding performed every two weeks over a total period of 4 weeks and antibody titers quantified by ELISA. Amongst the tested groups, one Accum-containing LNP formulation stood-up triggering a higher antibody compared to the remaining groups.
"The use of mRNA vaccines now expanding rapidly into cancer therapeutics will expand exponentially over the next decade due to their established potency and ease of manufacturing. Defence will thus strive in applying its platform of Accum technology in mRNA vaccination opportunities, which will have a great impact on the induced immune responses", says Mr. Plouffe, CEO of Defence Therapeutics.
Defence will design additional studies, currently now being prepared to test different concentrations of the selected LNPs. Once the optimal dosing is identified, a validation study will be conducted in cancer-bearing mice to test their therapeutic potency. In this case, animals will be transplanted with a solid tumor expressing an experimental antigen followed by a prime-boost vaccination administered alone or in combination with immune-checkpoint blockers such as anti-PD-1.
Accum has been tested in various applications including protein- and cell-based vaccination modalities and was discovered to significantly boost their therapeutic potency. Defence is therefore convinced that Accum will increase the stability of mRNA molecules by enhancing structural integrity of the molecule, and augment their bio-accumulation and efficient translation in target cells resulting in a stronger immune-reactivity as shown with its latest LNP vaccination study.