The Australian firm's CEO Malcolm McColl said the drug was actually a virus that had been found to kill cancer cells.
Trials on more than 250 patients in the US had shown tumour reduction in a high percentage of cases.
"The virus preferentially infects cancer cells while it pretty much leaves healthy cells alone," Mr McColl said.
"We've done most of our work in melanoma, lung and bladder cancer, but it also has potential application across a range of other tumour types.
"We need to do a lot more work with patients, and that's of course what Merck will do, but the signs at this point are very encouraging."
"Merck has done a lot of diligence on the program both in terms of the clinical and manufacturing data and are obviously fully satisfied and convinced that there's a great potential for Cavatak to help cancer patients," Mr McColl said.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-...for-firm-viralytics-cancer-trial-drug/9476938
But Merck’s
deal to acquire Viralytics suggests this could be about to change, according to one of the Australian company’s close competitors, Norway’s Targovax.
Representatives of Targovax interviewed by pharmaphorum said the marketplace is set to get increasingly crowded in the future as pharma tries to use the approach to improve efficacy of checkpoint inhibitors.
There is only one FDA-approved oncolytic virus, Amgen’s Imlygic (talimogene laherparepvec) in 2015, but sales have been disappointing.
But with another 10 oncolytic viruses in clinical development, and another 40 in labs, the hope is that oncolytic viruses could be used to ‘prime’ tumours before treatment with checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy, which has a response rate as low as 20% in some cancers.
Now that Viralytics is effectively part of Merck & Co, this leaves Targovax as one of the most advanced independent biotechs working with oncolytic viruses.
Bristol-Myers Squibb has also done a big oncolytic virus deal, acquiring rights late last year to an “armed virus” targeting cancer from the UK biotech, PsiOxus Therapeutics, worth almost $900 million if the project is successful.
Merck deal ‘no suprise’
Targovax’s chief medical officer, Magnus Jaderberg, told pharmaphorum in an interview that the Viralytics deal came as no surprise following strong phase 2 results from its Cavatak, based on the Coxsackievirus, back in 2015.
Jaderberg said: “As soon as they released the data we felt that somebody would go after them and we were right. We were not surprised about the deal and we think it is very positive for us.”
He expects more interest in oncolytic viruses from Roche and Genentech, which so far have not done a big oncolytic virus deal, perhaps to boost their immunotherapy Tecentriq, which has produced some mixed results in trials.
Already partnered with Medimmune on one deal, Targovax is planning a phase 2 trial of its adenovirus-based drug TG01, targeting resected pancreatic cancer in combination with Merck’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab).
https://pharmaphorum.com/news/big-pharma-turn-viruses-boost-cancer-immunotherapies/
Quest Asset Management – which bought into the company in 2014 and owns 6 per cent – is also supportive.
"It's a good deal but we have done the hard yards on this company," said Quest director Troy Cairns. "It's valuable, but its not easy to to commercialise things in Australia, and Merck is a good partner."
Roy Baynes, Merck's head of global clinical development, said Viralytics' approach complemented the drugmaker's immuno-oncology strategy and opened up the possibility of new synergistic drug combinations.
"Viralytics approach of engaging the innate immune system to target and kill cancer cells compliments our immuno-oncology strategy, which is focused on the rapid advancement of innovative monotherapy approaches and synergistic combinations to help the broadest range of cancer patients," said Dr Baynes.
"We are eager to further build on Viralytics' science as we continue our efforts to harness the immune system to improve long-term disease control and survival outcomes for people with cancer."
The takeover adds to the busy healthcare M&A space with $US26.3 billion of transactions agreed in January alone. Northern California-based Varian Medical Systems last
month bid $1.6 billion for Sirtex Medical, while last week Bristol-Myers Squibb said it will pay a record
$USS1.85 billion to buy Nektar Therapeutics, a small biotech startup, for rights to its experimental cancer drug.
http://www.copyright link/business/...l-biotech-viralytics-for-500m-20180221-h0wgxc
