Genticel, a clinical-stage biotechnology company and developer of innovative immunotherapies to prevent cancers caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), announced that a new patent number 9,095,537, entitled “Therapy of cancer based on targeting adaptive, innate and/or regulatory component of the immune response,” has been granted in the United States. This patent, exclusively licensed by Institut Pasteur to Genticel, protects the use of the company’s CyaA-based antigen delivery vectors in combination therapy to treat cancer.

“This new patent strengthens our intellectual property portfolio and expands our potential to progress in therapeutic areas beyond early-stage disease by enabling the use of our CyaA vectors in combination with other drugs for advanced cancer,” said Martin Koch, CEO of Genticel.

“Genticel now holds multiple key patents protecting our technology for use in many indications - from viral infection to cancer - in all major markets.”

The CyaA (adenylate cyclase) vector is a breakthrough in antigen delivery technology used by Genticel to develop its lead product candidate, GTL001 (ProCervix), currently in a fully recruited phase 2 clinical trial. GTL001 is a therapeutic vaccine that aims to treat the 93 million women infected worldwide with HPV 16 and/or 18 before high-grade or cancerous cervical lesions develop.

This patent completes Genticel’s portfolio on the use of CyaA vectors for the treatment of advanced HPV-induced diseases including cancer. It complements the company’s proprietary European patent number 2061505 granted in 2012, which notably claims a pharmaceutical composition comprising a chemotherapeutic agent, a recombinant CyaA comprising a tumour-associated antigen and an adjuvant for the prevention or treatment of cancer.

This new patent covers antitumour therapies that include a recombinant CyaA protein comprising a tumour-associated antigen and a TLR (toll-like receptor) agonist in patients. TLR agonists have demonstrated immunological properties as adjuvants. Furthermore, it also covers the use of a CyaA vector in combination with chemotherapeutic agents, including cyclophosphamide which is used in combination with immunotherapy protocols to treat cancer.