IRL partner in cancer vaccine initiative

Based in Wellington, the collaboration brings a vaccine developed by the Malaghan Institute together with an adjuvant, a compound developed by IRL that increases the efficacy of the vaccine.

A vaccine stimulates the immune system to fight a disease by introducing a foreign organism. The adjuvant enhances the body’s response by helping the T-cells find the vaccine.  Hence the vaccine becomes much more efficient and much more likely to work.

In this case, the vaccine would be injected into a cancer patient’s tumour to assist the patient’s natural defences and rid itself of the disease. 

Dr Graham le Gros, the Malaghan Institute’s director says “the key to fighting illness lies in harnessing the immune system – the body’s natural defence against disease.

“This project offers us the opportunity to apply our immunology and oncology expertise with other organisations to develop a commercial vaccine.

 “There is an unmet need for such vaccine products and we hope our teams can crack it by working together to get it into the clinics.”

IRL Chief Executive, Shaun Coffey says the partnership provides ongoing investment to build on the strengths of the company’s world-class carbohydrate chemistry team. 

“The work on vaccine adjuvants has grown out of IRL’s expertise in developing carbohydrate materials that deliver active drugs more efficiently within the body and can treat some of our most serious diseases such as cancers and auto-immune diseases.”

“By bringing both the science and the business expertise together, this partnership will allow us to do as much of this vaccine development as possible here within New Zealand and so ensure this country gets a share of any economic benefits,” he says.  

The collaboration is the result of Victoria Link recognising the health and commercial potential for IRL’s and Malaghan’s newly developed products to be combined into a vaccine technology. 

“Collaborating accelerates the building of new biomedical technology and is essential for New Zealand’s competitiveness and capability building,” said Mark Ahn, Professor and Chair, Science and Technology Entrepreneurship, who coordinated the formation of the joint research programme. 

“We’re bringing together immunology, chemistry and entrepreneurship and each partner has a unique expertise.”

The commercial potential is considerable with the international vaccine market estimated at US$12 billion and has enabled the project by attracting additional funding. 

Victoria Link is facilitating the commercial side of the project.

“We’re turning science ideas into high-growth businesses,” said John Errington, CEO of Victoria Link.  “At the same time, our project partners are proving a principle and developing a platform technology that can be used for other diseases.”

“The commercial potential from this project is massive, and it’s the unique collaboration of Wellington organisations that’s making it happen.”

Nigel Kirkpatrick, CEO of Grow Wellington believes that building biotechnology capabilities is critical to Wellington’s economic growth and sustainability.  

“This project demonstrates that Wellington has the right people and resources in place to develop and manufacture world-class biotechnology,” he says.

The scope of the project is for the early stage of work, testing that the technology is safe and effective, and to prove the science is a viable approach to cancer theory.  In 2009, IRL business unit, GlycoSyn^irl will undertake development and scale-up work on the adjuvant.

The project team will investigate the viability of the vaccine and manufacture it.  The product will then be licensed to a pharmaceutical company for clinical trials.

The project is funded by IRL Victoria Link and Grow Wellington until 2011. 

Collaborators - background

IRL is a national research enterprise providing world-class science and engineering support to industry to enhance their performance and add value to the New Zealand economy.   IRL’s science capability is in physics, chemistry and mathematics and its research crosses a range of applications.

As well as strong capability in biotechnology and carbohydrate chemistry, IRL research includes industrial processing, materials research and engineering, intelligent devices and systems, imaging and sensing technologies, sustainable and distributed energy technologies, and measurement.

The Malaghan Institute of Medical Research is New Zealand’s leading medical research facility focused on finding cures for cancer, asthma, arthritis, multiple sclerosis and infectious disease.  The Institute is an independent research facility and a registered charity, and is based at Victoria University in Wellington.

Victoria Link Limited connects the private sector with Victoria University’s research and consultancy expertise.  The company manages the relationships between Victoria University’s resources and external clients, and develops high-growth businesses from the University’s Intellectual Property.

Grow Wellington is the regional economic development agency for the greater Wellington region. It was created in 2007 to implement the Wellington regional Strategy for long term sustainable growth.  Grow Wellington works for and with businesses who want to be world class. This project is part of the Centres of Excellence run by Grow Wellington.

Cancer vaccine – background

Vaccines have long been used as a product for enhancing immunity to a particular disease.  In the past, the emphasis has been on preventing infectious diseases - now researchers are testing vaccines to treat diseases.

The term ‘vaccine’ originates with Edward Jenner and his 1796 vaccine against smallpox by using the related but milder cowpox virus.  In the intervening centuries, a whole range of vaccines has been developed to protect people and animals against infectious diseases by artificially inducing the body’s immune system to recognise the infectious agent by introducing a foreign ‘antigen’ (a version of the disease). 

But because the antigen is a weakened version of the original organism, vaccines need help to ensure a good immune response that come in the form of additives known as adjuvants.  Adjuvants increase the likelihood of the vaccine hitting the targeted disease, stimulate immune activity and give the vaccine enough longevity in the body to be effective.

With the potential uses for more targeted, new generation DNA-based vaccines such as those being developed at the Malaghan Institute expanding in both preventive and therapeutic applications, new adjuvants that are potent, non-toxic, water soluble, biodegradable and stable, such as the one developed by IRL, are keenly sought after by the biopharmaceutical industry.

Key facts

• The cancer vaccine project is the result of a collaboration between Victoria Link, Grow Wellington, the Malaghan Institute and Industrial Research Limited.
• The unique collaboration enables a unique product - it wouldn’t happen without the commitment of these parties.
  The cancer vaccine project is funded by Victoria Link, Grow Wellington and Industrial Research Limited until 2011.
• World-class biotechnology research and development is thriving in Wellington.
• The international pharmaceutical market is worth around US$12 billion annually.
• The vaccine market (US$10B in 2005) is expected to grow by 13% p.a. to 2010 - twice the growth rate of the pharmaceutical industry.
• The team is developing a vaccine technology that will be applicable to many other diseases.
• The Malaghan Institute developed the vaccine and IRL has developed the adjuvant – the component that increases the strength, longevity and likelihood of a greater immune response to the vaccine.
• Future commercial opportunities have enabled the project by attracting funding.
• Commercial opportunities will be realised through licensing the technology.