Regeneus secures rights to cancer vaccine for humans

Regeneus (ASX:RGS) has secured exclusive worldwide rights for a new personalised therapeutic vaccine for human cancers.

The company has signed an agreement with Northern Sydney Local Healthcare District for the vaccine technology. Regeneus already holds exclusive rights to the technology in veterinary applications.

The technology was developed at the Kolling Institute of Medical Research’s Bill Walsh Translational Cancer Research Laboratory at Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital.

Regeneus CEO professor Graham Vesey said the company decided to take out the rights for human applications of the vaccine technology “following preclinical efficacy data and promising safety data generated from the treatment of a variety of dogs with a wide range of cancer types”.

The technology involves creating personalised therapeutic vaccines for various cancers via a patient tumour sample obtained by surgical removal or biopsy.

With the rights secured, Regeneus now plans to fund a first-in-human safety study in the first quarter of 2015, as well as further research at the Bill Walsh lab. The company is yet to settle on a trial design or target tumour type.

Vesey said because the vaccine uses a patient’s own cancer cells, it may be entitled to expedited approval in Australia.

“The local regulatory environment for biological therapies in Australia may allow for an accelerated clinical pathway for the autologous cancer vaccine, removing the need for expensive and time-consuming phase III trials,” he said.

Regeneus (ASX:RGS) shares were trading unchanged at $0.38 as of around 1.30 pm on Tuesday.