Project description
First-in-class cell therapy for solid tumours
Nearly one third of ovarian cancers develop resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs that contain platinum, such as cisplatin and carboplatin. Funded by the European Innovation Council, the MACOV project aims to address this medical issue by developing a macrophage-based immunotherapeutic approach. The idea is to generate an off-the-shelf product that consists of allogeneic macrophages that carry targeted therapeutics destined for cancer cells. The project will investigate the efficacy of these cells in multiple animal models for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. Moreover, researchers will study the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of this cell-based product, and alongside toxicological assessment, they will prepare it for a Phase I clinical trial.
Objective
Resistance to platinum-based chemotherapy is a major clinical challenge in ovarian cancer. About 300,000 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year and the number of deaths is estimated at 180,000 worldwide each year. Ovarian cancer metastasizes early in its development, often before it's diagnosed. Ovarian cancer treatment involves surgery with frontline platinum-based chemotherapy. As many as 15-30% of patients with ovarian cancer have primary platinum-resistant or refractory disease. The recurrence of ovarian cancer is now considered a sign of an incurable disease (it becomes platinum-resistant).
The project MACOV aims to develop an innovative allogeneic, “ready-to-use” macrophage-based therapy for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. This is a ground-breaking, first in class therapy that shows very high efficacy in multiple solid tumors of unmet medical need.
These cells are equipped with targeted therapy drugs complexed with the carrier protein ensuring their stability in the carrier cell. The protein-drug complex is transferred specifically to cancer cells. The whole concept of this cell therapy is based on the groundbreaking scientific discoveries of MDC (Macrophage-Drug Conjugate). Two European Research Council (ERC) grants were received to study the molecular basis of the discovered mechanism - in 2016 and 2020. In 2018 this project was selected to be promoted as one of the 10 European projects during ERC 10th Anniversary.
The MACOV project will generate of complete efficacy data package for the pre-clinical development of MDC-735 product, consisting of efficacy in multiple animal models for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, PK, PD and toxicology study as well as consolidate IP and validate business case. The result of the project will be a validated cell therapy product for platinum-refractory ovarian cancer, tested for effectiveness and ready-to-use for the Phase I clinical trial.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.3.1 - The European Innovation Council (EIC) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-BasedCoordinator
01-510 WARSAW
Poland
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.