Newswise — Gliknik Inc. has exclusively licensed the rights to two Trojan peptide cancer therapeutic vaccines (TPV) from the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) and Mayo Clinic who jointly own the technology. "Two cancer therapeutic vaccine drug candidates based on this technology are currently in clinical trials in patients with advanced Head and Neck Squamous Cell Cancer at the Greenebaum Cancer Center at UMB," said David J. Ramsay, DM, DPhil, president of UMB.
"We are very excited about the promise this new technology holds," said Michael Rollor, PhD, MBA, assistant vice president in UMB's Office of Research and Development. "If proven effective, TPV will be among the first anti-cancer vaccines on the market. This is a good example of university technology transfer as it is intended to work."
The ongoing clinical trial is being funded through a National Institutes of Health grant to the co-inventor of the technology, Scott Strome, MD, chair of the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Department of Otorhinolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, formerly of Mayo Clinic.
"We are encouraged by the novelty and clinical trial results to date of these new drug candidates and pleased to become a clinical-stage development company early in the progress of our company's growth," says David Block, MD, MBA, president and CEO of Gliknik. "We are hopeful that over time this very innovative approach to a difficult cancer will break new ground clinically. Progress in the fight against advanced head and neck cancer has been limited for decades."
Gliknik was founded in 2007 and became the first tenant in the University of Maryland BioPark's Building Two in March 2008. The company recently completed Series A financing from non-institutional investors sufficient to fund current activities through 2009.
Gliknik and UMB are also collaborating on another program that offers the possibility of different types of drug candidates. Stradomers are under development as a recombinant form of intravenous immunoglobulin, a clinically important multi-billion dollar product that is currently pooled from tens of thousands of blood donors and used to treat various autoimmune disorders. Stradobodies are improvements to important marketed and novel cancer monoclonal antibodies such as Herceptin® and Erbitux® (registered trademarks of Genentech, Inc., and ImClone Systems, Inc., respectively). The company and Dr. Strome of UMB are recipients of a Maryland Industrial Partnerships competitive grant which funds a part of these programs.
About GliknikGliknik Inc. is a privately owned corporation committed to the discovery and development of novel biomolecules for autoimmune/inflammatory diseases and cancer. The company capitalizes on its expertise in immunology and tumor immunology. For more information, visit http://www.gliknik.com.
About the University of Maryland, BaltimoreThe University of Maryland, Baltimore, is home to the Dental School, Graduate School, and schools of law, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health, and social work. It is the founding campus of the University System of Maryland. The University of Maryland BioPark offers sophisticated laboratory and office space for early-stage to mature bioscience companies. For more information, visit http://www.umaryland.edu and http://www.umbbiopark.com.
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