Besides Cavatak, other oncolytic viruses are closing in on drug approval in North America and Europe, Tomoki Todo and colleagues at the University of Tokyo’s Institute of Medical Science wrote in a 2016 review paper. These included:
Pexa-Vec, based on the smallpox vaccine virus, and under development by SillaJen Inc. and studied in patients with liver and breast cancer, sarcoma, and in combination with checkpoint inhibitors for colorectal cancer.
CG0070, based on a modified common cold adenovirus; being developed by closely held Cold Genesys Inc. and studied in patients with bladder cancer as well as with checkpoint modulators for other solid tumors.
DS-1647, or G47Δ, based on a mutated HSV-1 virus; being co-developed by Daiichi Sankyo Co. and designated in July as an orphan drug for the treatment of malignant glioma by Japan’s health ministry.
Reolysin, a respiratory enteric orphan virus; being developed by Oncolytics Biotech Inc. and studied in breast cancer patients.
Transgene SA began treating patients with glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer, using TG6002, a novel oncolytic based on the smallpox vaccine virus, the French company said in October. Japan’s Takara Bio Inc. said in December it would start testing its HF10 virus in combination with Bristol-Myers Squibb’s checkpoint inhibitor Opdivo for melanoma after it began studying it in pancreatic cancer patients.
Closely held DNAtrix Inc. is also tackling glioblastoma with its DNX-2401, based on a common-cold virus, in combination with Merck’s Keytruda, while Genelux Corp. is also testing tweaked smallpox vaccine virus against gynecological cancers.
Companies developing promising oncolytic viruses will be attractive to cancer-drug makers, said Rajiv Khanna, a senior scientist at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Brisbane, Australia, who has worked in tumor immunology for more than 20 years. For much of that time, major pharmaceutical companies weren’t interested in oncolytic viruses, he said.
“But suddenly they have woken up and seen these results,” said Khanna, whose lab is studying ways of killing cancers that are caused by viruses. “I was impressed that Merck would pay that much money for a company, but their results are quite encouraging, so it makes sense.”
