Introgen says preclinical data shows injection of oncolytic virus INGN 011 suppresses growth of liver, lung tumors

By E. Janene Geiss

Philadelphia, Dec. 20 - Introgen Therapeutics, Inc. said Tuesday that results from preclinical data in animal models of cancer demonstrated that intravenous administration or direct injection into tumors of INGN 011 suppressed the growth of liver and lung tumors.

Importantly, intravenous administration of INGN 011 demonstrated a favorable safety and toxicity profile, according to a company news release.

INGN 011 is an oncolytic virus that has been engineered to selectively replicate within and kill cancer cells.

The studies were conducted in animal models by the company's academic collaborators at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine. The results were published in the current issue of Gene Therapy, officials said.

The virus has been modified so that it will specifically replicate in the majority of tumors that express an enzyme called human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT), a molecule not found in most normal tissues, officials said.

"These data demonstrate the flexibility of this novel oncolytic virus platform in the development of novel cancer therapeutics," William S.M. Wold, chairman of the department of microbiology and immunology at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine, founder and chief executive officer of VirRx, and an author on the study, said in the release.

"The ability to engineer these viruses to replicate selectively in the presence of tumor-specific proteins is a powerful approach to destroying cancer cells while minimizing effects on healthy tissue," Wold said.

Introgen said it licensed rights to a portfolio of oncolytic viruses and other related technologies from VirRx, Inc. This portfolio includes a series of replication-competent adenovirus vectors that over-express an adenoviral gene (ADP gene), a gene that causes rapid destruction of cancer cells through the replication and release of new viral particles, officials said.

Development of the ADP-expressing oncolytic virus INGN 007 is the most advanced and will be the first of these products to enter clinical trials, officials said.

Introgen is an Austin, Texas, biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of targeted molecular therapies for the treatment of cancer and other diseases.

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