OncoMyx Therapeutics, a privately-held oncolytic immunotherapy company, announced today that The University of Western Ontario (Western) has assigned to OncoMyx the technology and patent rights associated with pioneering research on the use of myxoma virus in the treatment of cancer.
Lisa Cechetto, the Executive Director of WORLDiscoveriesTM, the technology transfer office for Western, Robarts Research Institute, and Lawson Research Institute, said, “We are pleased to assign these patents to OncoMyx, as it is important that the outputs of pioneering research, such as Dr. McFadden’s use of myxoma virus to create novel oncolytic therapies, be further developed to improve the lives of cancer patients or others who may benefit.”
“The assignment of this technology and intellectual property to OncoMyx further reinforces our IP portfolio protecting our use of myxoma virus and our pipeline of myxoma virotherapies for the treatment of cancer,” said Steve Potts, Ph.D., MBA, cofounder and chief executive officer of OncoMyx. “The myxoma virus has a number of important attributes that we are leveraging to develop potentially impactful oncolytic immunotherapies with the goal of increasing the number of cancer patients who could benefit from immunotherapies.”
“Oncolytic viruses are emerging as a new pillar of cancer care with the potential to expand the effectiveness of immunotherapies, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors,” said Dr. McFadden. “I am pleased that OncoMyx has been assigned the patent rights associated with the pioneering myxoma research that was done at Western, as the myxoma virus is unique as a technology platform to build oncolytic immunotherapies.”
About Myxoma Virotherapy for the Treatment of Cancer
The myxoma virus is highly immuno-interactive and can selectively infect and kill a broad range of cancer cell types. Because myxoma virus is not pathogenic to humans, myxoma virotherapy does not have to overcome pre-existing immunity. As a large dsDNA poxvirus, myxoma is engineerable to express multiple transgenic payloads, such as immunomodulatory proteins, to target multiple points in the cancer immunity cycle. The company’s preclinical data demonstrates efficacy of multi-armed myxoma virotherapies via intravenous (IV) and intratumoral (IT) delivery in a number of tumor models across multiple cancer indications and supports a pan-tumor approach to expand the therapeutic effectiveness of immunotherapies.
About OncoMyx Therapeutics
OncoMyx Therapeutics develops oncolytic immunotherapies based on the myxoma virus (MYXV) platform to orchestrate an immune response to better treat cancer. Successful immuno-oncology (IO) cancer treatment generally requires combination therapy, and oncolytic viruses (OVs) have the potential to be a safe and effective complement to immunotherapies. The company’s MYXV platform, exclusively licensed from Arizona State University and Western, is poised to be a best-in-class OV approach, and the top OV team has assembled around MYXV to create important new therapeutic options for cancer patients. For more information, please visit www.oncomyx.com and connect with the company on LinkedIn and Twitter.
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Contacts
Corporate Contact: Michael G. Wood, Cofounder & COO, mw@oncomyx.com
Media Contact: Jessica Yingling, Ph.D., Little Dog Communications Inc., jessica@litldog.com , +1.858.344.8091
Source: OncoMyx Therapeutics
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