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news.UbiVac, a privately held clinical stage Immuno-Oncology company, has formed a collaboration with Janssen Biotech (Janssen), one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson.
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The Johnson & Johnson Innovation Center in California facilitated the research agreement on behalf of the Janssen Disease Interception Accelerator.
Under the terms of the agreement, UbiVac will develop new preclinical and clinical versions of its proprietary DRibble® immunotherapy for use in preclinical studies of oral cancer.
UbiVac will receive an upfront payment, plus additional financial commitments, contingent upon reaching certain pre-determined research, development and manufacturing milestones. In addition to funding the research, Janssen has an option for further development and licensing of the new DRibble immunotherapy.
Many oral cancers develop from oral leukoplakia, a white lesion that develops in the oral cavity and is estimated to affect 2 percent of the global population. The World Health Organization defines this as a potentially malignant condition, with 1 percent of lesions progressing to oral cancer annually. It is unknown if surgical excision eliminates the risk of developing oral cancer. Thus, development of an immunotherapy that induced broad anti-cancer immunity and inhibited oral leukoplakia from transforming into oral cancer would represent a paradigm shift for treating this disease.
UbiVac CEO Bernard Fox said: "We are excited about this collaboration with Janssen to evaluate UbiVac’s DRibble technology as a potential approach for intercepting oral cancer.
"The development of a vaccine for cancer has long been a dream of UbiVac. This project provides a scientific partner and the resources that could make that dream a reality."