CancerVax Targets Hard to Treat Pancreatic Cancer

December 12, 2024

CancerVax Targets Hard-to-Treat Pancreatic Cancer

With limited options available to treat Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the Company’s Universal Cancer Treatment Platform may provide hope for patients and doctors

Lehi, UT, December 11, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — CancerVax, Inc., the developer of a breakthrough universal cancer treatment (UCT) platform that will use the body’s immune system to fight cancer, announced today that the Company has selected Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) as one of its first targets for preclinical development.

The American Cancer Society estimates that 66,440 people in the US will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2024 and 515,000 worldwide. Approximately 85% of all pancreatic cancer diagnoses are the PDAC cancer type. According to recent studies, PDAC is “one of the most lethal diseases, with an average 5-year survival rate of less than 10%. This devasting outcome is mostly due to the fact that traditional treatments such as chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation have not been shown to significantly improve rate of survival.”

CancerVax’s novel UCT Platform is a customizable technology that can target many types of cancer. A single injection contains billions of CancerVax nanoparticles. Each nanoparticle is equipped with detectors to precisely detect cancer cells. First, the nanoparticles latch onto cells with surface proteins highly expressed on cancer cells. After entering the cell, the nanoparticles release a proprietary “Smart mRNA” payload. Only if the cell matches a cancer-specific genetic signature, not found in healthy cells, the Smart mRNA will then instruct the cancer cell to produce proteins associated with well immunized diseases such as measles. Our technology makes the cancer cells look like measles, enabling the immune system to selectively destroy the cancer cells.

Byron Elton, CEO of CancerVax said, “The body is very good at fighting well known diseases such as measles. In fact, after a measles infection or vaccination, the body will have lifelong immunity to measles through the natural memories of immune cells such as B-cells and T-cells. These immune cells are constantly on the lookout for measles viruses and prevent infection. It is this strong existing immunity that we aim to leverage in the fight against cancer. Other cancer therapies, such as personalized cancer vaccines, try to teach the immune system what cancer looks like with limited success and are extremely expensive. Teaching the immune system is like teaching an old dog a new trick – very difficult to do. So instead, we’re going to trick the dog into performing something it knows how to do very well. We believe our approach will make all the difference in using the body’s immune system to fight cancer.”

Mr. Elton concluded, “Our goal is to increase our accuracy of detecting, marking and killing only cancer cells, and reducing very toxic off-target effect that other treatments such as chemo can have on the body.”

Dr. Adam Grant, the Company’s Principal Scientist said, “When analyzing which cancer type we should attack first, we used sophisticated artificial intelligence tools to determine that PDAC cancer cells have high expressions of a surface protein that we can target, and known genetic signatures we can program into our Smart mRNA for precise detection. In addition, PDAC cells have many of the biological mechanisms in place to process our Smart mRNA. While PDAC cells are very good at hiding from the immune system, our theory is that by disguising them as measles, they are very likely to be detected by the natural immune system, which is highly effective at finding and killing measles. These factors combined with the limited treatment options for PDAC made our decision pretty clear. We’re very excited about the potential to dramatically improve immunotherapy treatments for patients with this devastating disease.”

Dr. George Katibah, the Company’s Chief Scientific Officer added, “Tumor immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatments. However, current therapies remain suboptimal for many types of tumors. New approaches to harness the immune system are needed in diseases like pancreatic cancer. CancerVax’s innovative way of using a highly functionalized nanoparticle to precisely detect cancer cells and redirect the immune system into attacking it, is a novel approach with exciting potential. I wake up every morning excited to go work. The global success of the mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine gave us confidence in our Smart mRNA platform. Now, we are working with world-class partners to put these technologies together in a way that has never been done before. We look forward to progressing to animal studies to demonstrate safety and efficacy as soon as possible.”

About CancerVax

CancerVax is a pre-clinical biotech company developing a novel Universal Cancer Treatment platform that will be customizable, as an injection, to treat many types of cancer. Our innovative approach DETECTS, MARKS, and KILLS only cancer cells. By making cancer cells look like well-immunized common diseases such as measles or chickenpox, we intend to use the body’s natural immune system to easily kill the cancer cells. We look forward to the day when treating cancer will be as simple as getting a shot – a better way to fight cancer. To learn more, please visit www.CancerVax.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations, and assumptions regarding the future of our business, plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy, and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks, and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict, many of which are outside our control. Our actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement made by us in this release is based only on information currently available to us and speaks only as of the date it is made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise.

Press Contact:
CancerVax, Inc.
Tel: (805) 356-1810
communications@CancerVax.com