On February 18, 2016 Unleash Immuno Oncolytics, an immune-oncology company developing oncolytic virus immunotherapy products to treat cancer, reported that the company has entered a license agreement with INIS Biotech, the tech transfer arm of Fundación Instituto Leloir, and has established operations in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA (Press release, Unleash Immuno Oncolytics, FEB 18, 2016, View Source [SID1234540111]).
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"Immuno-oncology is a very promising field and we are excited to enter this space that could potentially bring truly breakthrough therapies for cancer treatment. Unleash is privileged to license this technology from the Leloir Institute, to leverage this outstanding science to develop innovative immune-oncology therapies" said Unleash’s CEO, Daniel Katzman.
The research work of Dr. Osvaldo Podhajcer´s group led to the development of Unleash’s leading product – UIO-512, an oncolytic virus designed to target both malignant cells and tumor-associated stroma cells. "The stroma, composed by non-malignant cancer-associated fibroblasts, endothelial and immune cells, provides nutrients, structure and helps the malignant cells to grow and disseminate. Cancer-associated stroma cells may account for up to 90% of the tumor mass and are not being specifically and are not targeted by any other current therapies. Thus, targeting the stroma cells is a significant paradigm shift over existing cancer treatments" explained Dr. Podhjacer – Chief, Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Therapy (Fundación Instituto Leloir, Buenos Aires), Superior Researcher (CONICET) ), Director of the Argentinian Consortium of Genomic Technology.
"UIO-512’s viral replication is triggered by a triple hybrid promoter that combines the stroma-associated SPARC gene promoter and motifs responsive to tumor microenvironment conditions such as inflammation and hypoxia. Unleash’s patented technology is unique in that it attacks the entire tumor mass, not only the malignant cells themselves but also the stromal cells that support cancer dissemination" said Dr. David T. Curiel – Unleash’s Scientific Advisory Board Chairman and Director of the Biologic Therapeutics Center, Washington University School of Medicine.
Unleash was formed by Axia Ventures Company Builder. ¨We are proud to have created an exciting biotechnology start-up company born with the vision of a global world-class scale¨, said Lisandro Bril, Managing Partner of Axia Ventures.
Unleash will establish its operations in Saint Louis. ¨Saint Louis’ growing biotechnology ecosystem is happy to welcome Unleash. We are excited to be the lead investor in Unleash’s seed round of financing", said Charles Bolten, Vice President of BioGenerator, a biotechnology fund and incubator based in Saint Louis, Missouri.