HOUSTON, TX, USA I May 11, 2017 I DNAtrix, a clinical stage biotechnology company developing oncolytic viruses for cancer, today announced a podium presentation on the use of DNAtrix’s oncolytic myxoma virus for treatment-resistant cancer at the upcoming 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT) in Washington, DC.

Grant McFadden, PhD, Director of the Biodesign Center for Immunotherapy, Vaccines and Virotherapy at Arizona State University, will present his pre-clinical results showing that ex vivo treatment of stem cells with myxoma virus prior to transplantation efficiently eliminates residual chemotherapy-resistant myeloma cells that remain in the transplant recipient.

Myxoma virus is an oncolytic poxvirus with the ability to selectively kill cancer cells without infecting or perturbing normal cells. More importantly, it can exploit T-cells and other white blood cells as virus “carriers,” which can be systemically delivered to target and destroy tumors.

“This report by Dr. McFadden represents years of research to uncover the remarkable cancer-targeting properties of this virus,” said Frank Tufaro, PhD, CEO of DNAtrix.  “It appears that myxoma virus could be especially effective in combination with T-cell-based therapies, such as CAR-T therapy and stem cell transplantation.”

Details of the presentation are as follows:

Title: The Next Steps for Oncolytic Viral Therapies

Session: 305 – Designing the Next Generation of Viral Vectors
Presenter: Grant McFadden, PhD
Date: May 12, 2017, 9:10 – 9:45 am

About DNAtrix
DNAtrix is a privately held, clinical stage, biotechnology company developing virus-driven immunotherapies for cancer. DNAtrix’s lead product, DNX-2401, is a conditionally replicative oncolytic adenovirus being evaluated in clinical trials for recurrent glioblastoma, a brain cancer for which there is neither a cure nor adequate treatment. The company is backed by Morningside Ventures and Mercury Fund, and has been awarded a grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). For more information, please visit the company website at www.dnatrix.com.

SOURCE: DNAtrix