On March 2, 2022 Prokarium, a biopharmaceutical company pioneering the oncology field of microbial immunotherapy, reported it exercised its option with Lausanne University Hospital (Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois — CHUV) for an exclusive, worldwide license for the use of Salmonella immunotherapy in the treatment of bladder cancer (Press release, Prokarium, MAR 2, 2022, View Source [SID1234609369]).
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"This intellectual property is an important milestone for our lead oncology program as it enters clinical development in 2023 and also lays the groundwork for expanding Salmonella immunotherapy into other solid tumors," said Livija Deban, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of Prokarium. "Microbial immunotherapy is the gold standard-of-care in the treatment of bladder cancer. However, high recurrence rates and limited treatment options are currently available for patients. Prokarium is introducing a differentiated, efficacious microbial immunotherapy to a market that has seen little disruption in over 30 years."
In exchange for the exclusive license, Prokarium will make an upfront payment, as well as additional payments upon achievement of development and commercialization milestones, and, if any product is approved, will pay royalties on net sales.
"Since initiating our collaboration with Prokarium in 2019, our team at the Department of Urology at CHUV has generated a robust preclinical data package demonstrating that Prokarium’s proprietary Salmonella bacteria generates quantitatively and qualitatively superior immune responses with different kinetics compared to the standard-of-care," said Dr Denise Nardelli-Haefliger, Head of the Urology Research Unit. "Together with Prof Patrice Jichlinski, Prof Beat Roth, Dr Ilaria Lucca and Dr Sonia Domingos-Pereira, we are thrilled to see that the results of our collaboration have the potential to expand the disease-free interval and improve quality of life in patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC)."
About Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer (NMIBC)
Bladder cancer represents 5% of all new cancer cases in the US and accounts for 550,000 new cases yearly worldwide. The clinical staging is determined by the depth of invasion into the bladder wall. More than 70% of cases are diagnosed at an early stage, also known as non-muscle invasive bladder Cancer (NMIBC). Despite early diagnosis, the only approved therapies are Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), which often faces shortages, and chemotherapy, both delivered intravesically. Because of its high incidence and the limited number of treatment options, a huge unmet medical need remains in NMIBC.