The World Health Organisation categorizes cancer as the "second leading cause of death globally," and accounts for an estimated one in six deaths worldwide. Although great strides have been made in treating some cancers such as melanoma, treatments for other tumor types such as ovarian cancer have seen less progress, with patients suffering through gruelling rounds of chemotherapy, radiation and/or surgery. The side effects of these treatments can be significant, and with the causes of cancer still very much unknown, new treatment options are of the utmost importance & urgency.
BioVaxys Technology Corp. (CSE: BIOV, FRA:5LB, OTC:BVAXF) is the world leader in haptenized antigen vaccines, a platform technology they are developing for antiviral and cancer applications. The process of haptenization involves the modification of viral proteins or tumor antigens on the surface of tumor cells with a 'hapten,' a small molecule chemical that is capable of tightly binding to tumor antigens or viral surface proteins. The attachment of a hapten molecule to a viral or tumor antigen 'teaches' a patient's immune system to recognise and make target these surface proteins more 'visible' as foreign, thus eliciting a targeted immune response to the unmodified antigens. Haptenization is observed to induce a robust T-cell response, which is crucial in developing long term immunity. This proven mechanism of antigen haptenization has shown great promise in prior clinical studies as an anticancer vaccine, and is also being evaluated by the Company as the basis for a SARS-CoV-s vaccine.
BioVaxys is currently preparing a clinical study of its haptenized antigen approach in the EU early next year for Stage III/Stage IV ovarian cancer, with plans to expand the vaccine platform into other tumor types such as cervical cancer, renal cell carcinoma, and colorectal cancer.
The cancer industry is rapidly expanding, with an estimated two million new diagnoses each year in the United States alone. The lack of curative measures and poor outcomes in various tumor types continues to drive the need for new therapeutic approaches to be studied, such as BioVaxys' haptenization platform.
