(Business Wire) Philadelphia, PA— April 12, 2021 — Seneca Therapeutics, Inc. (“STI”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of targeted oncolytic immunotherapeutics based on Seneca Valley Virus (SVV-001), announced today the poster presentation of Seneca Therapeutics’ abstract titled “Oncolytic Seneca Valley Virus (SVV) overcomes resistance to checkpoint inhibitor therapies in neuroendocrine and melanoma murine models expressing the receptor for SVV”. Key points from the presentation:
1) SVV-001 demonstrates the ability to turn cold tumors hot;
2) Intratumoral administration of SVV-001 in combination with a checkpoint inhibitor demonstrates up to six fold increase in anti-tumor response over SVV-001 alone or check point inhibitor therapy alone;
3) SVV-001 specifically targets, infects and kills TEM8 positive cancer cells. No cell killing was observed in normal cells;
4) RNA seq data confirm up regulation of genes known to stimulate an immune response;
A randomized Phase III clinical study comparing SVV-001 administered IT in combination with Opvido and Yervoy compared to Opdivo and Yervoy alone in TEM8 positive neuroendocrine tumors and neuroendocrine carcinomas is planned to begin later in 2021. STI is also developing SVV-001 for intravenous use in TEM8 positive tumors as well as developing SVV-001 to deliver armed viruses to TEM8 positive tumor cells.
About Seneca Therapeutics
Seneca Therapeutics was founded by Dr. Paul Hallenbeck to develop SVV-001 related products. Seneca Therapeutics is also developing armed versions of SVV-001 to selectively express gene product(s) that are inserted into the genome of SVV-001 and create additional anti-tumor effects.