The vaccine intends to stimulate a specific cellular immune response against tumours in HCC patients.

United States. GeneOS Therapeutics, developer of tumour specific neoantigen-targeted immunotherapy has announced that it has secured a funding of USD12 million from Korea Investment Partners in its Series A1 round to improve personalized immunotherapy programs for cancer. The funding was led by Series A investors including, Santé Ventures and Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: INO).

The new investment will be used for the expansion of company’s GT-30 Phase lb/IIa clinical trial made for evaluating the efficacy of personalized neoantigen-targeting vaccine, GNOS-PV02. The vaccine is designed to treat patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, a kind of liver cancer. GNOS-PV02 is a tumour-specific DNA plasmid product manufactured specifically for each patient based on their unique tumour neoantigens. During the vaccine trial, GNOS-PV02 is combined with IL-12 (INO-9012) immunomodulator and PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor and the trail is to be carried out among 24 patients. The company is also planning to expand its management team and leadership team to introduce biopharmaceutical expertise across the clinical trial processes and biotech partnering.

Liver cancer is the sixth most common cancer across the globe. The mortality rate from liver cancer in United States has plummeted 43% from 2000 to 2016 and the cancer patients has a survival rate of 18% for advanced liver cancer. Most of the deaths from liver cancer is directly linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.

Geneos Therapeutics’ GT-EPIC™ is based on a clinically validated DNA medicine technology for developing personalized, neoantigen-targeting immunotherapies. The technology tailored to each patient’s unique tumour mutations has been used by Inovio Pharmaceuticals for more than 2,000 patients.

Announcing the million-dollar funding, founder and CEO of GeneOS Therapeutics commented, “The Series A1 financing demonstrates our investors' confidence in the GT-EPIC platform to design and manufacture patient-specific personalized cancer vaccines. Over the past two years we have demonstrated feasibility of the approach as a treatment modality – notably, the rapid biopsy to treatment turnaround time, which is so crucial when treating advanced cancer patients. This financing will allow us to expand our GT-30 clinical trial to a larger number of patients which we estimate will be sufficient to demonstrate efficacy in the 2nd line setting.”

TechSci research said, “Excessive consumption of alcohol, frequent smoking, obesity, cardiovascular disorders are some of the factors leading to the occurrence of liver cancer. High prevalence and rise in incidences of liver cancer across the globe is fuelling the growth of global liver cancer therapeutic market. Due to the emerging demand, several companies are increasingly investing in R&D to develop innovative and advanced treatment for liver diseases, which is further expected to positively influence the market during in the coming years.”

According to TechSci research report on “Global Liver Cancer Therapeutics Market By Cancer Type (Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Cholangiocarcinoma, Liver Metastasis, Hepatoblastoma, Angiosarcoma), By Therapy (Targeted Therapy, Radiation and Chemotherapy Therapy, Immunotherapy, Others), By Equipment (Computed Radiography, MRI, Sonography, Others), By Age (0-18, 18-35, 35-50, 50+), By Factors (Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, Cirrhosis, Excessive Liver Consumption, Others), By Route of Administration (Oral, Intra-Venous, Others ), By Distribution channel (Hospital Pharmacies, Retail Pharmacies, Online Pharmacies), By Region, Competition, Forecast & Opportunities, 2025”, global liver cancer therapeutics market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 7.24% and reach a market value of USD11.52 billion by 2025. The growth can be attributed to factors like rising incidences of liver cancer globally, mainly due to increasing alcohol consumption and poor lifestyle habits. Growing investment by both public and private sector in research and development activities for effective therapeutic treatment for cancer and rapidly evolving healthcare infrastructure in developing economies to drive global liver cancer therapeutics market growth.