N4 Pharma Plc (LON:N4P), the specialist pharmaceutical company developing Nuvec®, a novel delivery system for cancer treatments, gene therapy and vaccines, has provided a further successful update on its ongoing research work into the use of Nuvec® to enhance the performance of viral vectors.
Through its research programme with the University of Brunel, the Company has demonstrated via a series of in vitro experiments that Nuvec® can deliver increased transduction efficacy, when complexed with Adeno-Associated virus 8 (“AAV8”). This follows on from earlier work where the Company showed that Nuvec® increased transduction efficacy of a standard Adenovirus vector.
Specifically, Nuvec® was mixed with AAV8 carrying a fluorescent green protein gene and used to transduce human-like liver cells (induced pluripotent cell model). When the viral vector was complexed with Nuvec®, transduction efficacy increased 2.5-fold compared to the AAV8 vector when used on a standalone basis. AAV8 was chosen for investigation as this virus is currently being used for products already in clinical development.
Nigel Theobald, N4 Pharma Chief Executive Officer, commented:
“The number of approvals of new gene therapies and the need for appropriate delivery systems have reached unprecedented highs and demand is growing exponentially. The AAV vector market alone (AAV based gene therapy and AAV manufacturing) is projected to grow from USD 1.9 billion in 2022 to USD 11.1 billion by 2035, a CAGR of 14%¹.
“For in vivo gene therapy, the Adenovirus (AV) and Adeno-Associated virus (AAV) are acknowledged as the most used delivery vehicles. However relatively high amounts of AV and AAV are needed to be clinically efficient and this appears directly correlated with adverse events in patients such as unwanted immunogenicity and potential safety implications.
“Our work shows that Nuvec® has the potential to reduce the amount of AV and AAV needed and thus decrease both the cost of goods and immunogenicity associated with using these viral vectors. We believe this will be a major focus of the pharma/biotech industry as these viral vector delivery systems are further investigated.
“This work is running in parallel to our ongoing oral and dual loading work as well as the Nanogenics’ Glaucoma product, an update on which will follow soon.“
¹Adeno-Associated Viral Vectors / AAV Vector Market – Focus on AAV Based Gene Therapy and AAV Manufacturing by Type of Therapy, Type of Gene Delivery Method Used, Target Therapeutic Area, Application Area, Scale of Operation and Geographical Regions: Industry Trends and Global Forecasts, 2022-2035: Roots analysis.
