Torchlight, a CDMO enabling the development of genetic medicines with its enzymatic doggybone DNA (dbDNA) technology, today announced an agreement with University of Liverpool for the use of dbDNA in the development of a fully-personalised therapeutic neoantigen DNA vaccine for patients with non-small cell lung cancer, to be given to patients at Clatterbridge Cancer Center, Liverpool.
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common type of lung cancer, with almost 50,000 new diagnoses each year. It’s the third most prevalent cancer in the UK and – globally – it’s estimated that there were 2.2 million new cases in 2020 alone.
Researchers at the University of Liverpool will be conducting a clinical trial that involves making a personalised cancer vaccine for each patient.
The approach is designed to train the patient’s own immune system by targeting mutations in patients’ individual cancer and support patients who have not had sufficient benefit from standard immunotherapy.
Touchlight’s dbDNA technology produces a minimal, linear, double stranded, covalently closed DNA vector through an enzymatic manufacturing process.
dbDNA technology can deliver high purity GMP DNA in a small footprint at unprecedented speed and is ideally positioned to enable rapid individual personalised vaccines to cancer patients.
Prof. Christian Ottensmeier, Chief investigator and shared lead of the project of the study said: "We are delighted to work with Touchlight on developing this trial. The dbDNA approach offers a way to make vaccines very quickly, including for personalised treatments. We are very excited that we will be able to offer this clinical trial to patients with advanced lung cancer in Liverpool and expect that patients can be included starting in the 2nd half of 2024."