$30M in CGT startup Vector Biopharma - Aug,2020
Transcript
Did you hear about the new cancer treatment?
What?
It uses an adenovirus to–
Hold up, an adenovirus? Like the johnson and johnson vaccine?
Yes! but even better! This platform is called (SHREAD). SHielded, REtargeted ADenovirus
Let's stick with SHREAD.
Yeah ok.
Just like with the vaccine, it uses an adenovirus like a trojan horse to deliver a set of genetic instructions to your cells without getting stopped by your immune system! But here they're able to make it super specific, so it goes into your body and only enters cells with very particular surface markers.
Greeks are cool. But why is that better?
The problem with chemotherapy in general is that they flood your system with toxic chemicals. They have the biggest effect on cancer cells, but they're also pretty bad for the rest of your cells.
So that's why people lose their hair and get super nauseous right?
Exactly! But with SHREAD, rather than injecting a drug, they were able to tell just the tumor cells to MAKE that drug themselves, so the amount circulating in the rest of the body was 1800 time lower! Check it out:
So when will we see this?
Unclear– This was still a proof-of-concept. But now they're also testing it as an INHALED COVID therapy to make your lungs produce antibodies!
Science is cool.