Staying ahead of the technology curve means strengthening your competitive advantage. That is why we give you data-driven innovation insights into the pharma industry. This time, you get to discover 5 hand-picked startups developing cancer vaccines.
Global Startup Heat Map highlights 5 Top Startups developing Cancer Vaccines out of 123
The insights of this data-driven analysis are derived from the Big Data & Artificial Intelligence-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, covering 2.093.000+ startups & scaleups globally. The platform gives you an exhaustive overview of emerging technologies & relevant startups within a specific field in just a few clicks.
The Global Startup Heat Map below reveals the distribution of the 123 exemplary startups & scaleups we analyzed for this research. Further, it highlights 5 startups developing cancer vaccines that we hand-picked based on criteria such as founding year, location, funding raised, and more. You get to explore the solutions of these 5 startups & scaleups in this report. For insights on the other 118 cancer vaccine solutions, get in touch.
Nouscom provides Viral-Vectored Genetic Vaccines
As part of novel immunotherapies, pharma startups are developing a range of therapeutic vaccines. Combined with existing therapies, they promise to improve long-term clinical outcomes. For example, startups are employing genetic vaccines that insert DNA or RNA fragments using viral vectors. These provide specific immune responses while being easier to develop and produce.
Swiss startup Nouscom develops viral-vectored genetic vaccines. The startup’s platform encodes a large number of cancer antigens on great ape adenovirus (GAd) and Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) vectors. This induces and expands cancer-specific T cells, leading to a more immunogenic response. The startup’s lead immunotherapy candidate, NOUS-209, shows promise in the treatment of mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR) and microsatellite instability (MSI) tumors.
Frame Therapeutics develops Personalized Cancer Vaccines
Pharma startups are seeking antitumor targets that aid in the development of both personalized and off-shelf therapies. Neoantigens offer promising therapeutic targets to develop personalized cancer vaccines for multiple cancers. Compared to tumor-associated antigens, neoantigen-targeted therapies provide high specificity while offering broad generalizability.
Dutch startup Frame Therapeutics offers personalized cancer vaccines. The startup’s patented technology, FramePro, combines messenger RNA (mRNA) sequencing from tumor biopsy with complete DNA sequencing of the tumor. It first determines the sources of neo-antigenicity in tumors. Then, FramePro provides tumor-specific targets for developing personalized cancer vaccines.
Socium Therapeutics offers an Orally-Administered Cancer Vaccine
Oral vaccines usually provide numerous benefits over needle-based injections. In addition to socioeconomic advantages, they eliminate the risk of blood-borne pathogens and are administrable without much medical training. Pharma startups and emerging companies are reworking existing and conventional oral vaccine vectors to develop oral vaccines for cancers.
Socium Therapeutics is a US-based startup developing an orally administered cancer vaccine. The startup’s vaccine is based on an attenuated Salmonella carrier strain. The startup’s CReST platform leverages genetic modification to fuse a tumor-specific antigen (TSA) with a cholera toxin B (CtxB). It specifically targets cancer cells, inducing innate and adaptive immune responses.
SapVax creates Self-Adjuvanting Vaccines
Immunotherapy targets tumor-associated antigens to induce an immune response against the cancer cells. However, cancer vaccines often have severe side effects due to the use of toxic adjuvants. Self-adjuvanting vaccines overcome this by combining the antigen and adjuvant in a single molecule. This enables a potent immune response against cancers, infectious diseases, and allergies.
SapVax is a US-based startup working on a self-adjuvant vaccine. The startup’s immunostimulatory platform uses proprietary chemistry to generate homologated toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) agonist adjuvants. SapVax’s lead candidate is a cancer vaccine targeting the NY-ESO-1, a target antigen implicated in multiple cancers. The startup’s pipeline includes vaccines targeting both shared and personal neoantigens.
Vaccitech provides T-Cell Immunotherapy Vaccines
Since cancer cells evade the human system, vaccine startups look for ways to make them visible to immune cells. T-cell immunotherapy generally increases the antitumor activity of T-cells. Vaccines provide a viable therapeutic approach to elicit effective and durable anti-cancer immunity. Pharma startups are developing cancer vaccines for both combination and standalone therapies.
British startup Vaccitech offers T-cell immunotherapy vaccines. The startup’s vaccines are based on chimpanzee adenovirus and MVA vectors. As part of heterologous prime-boost vaccination, the treatment requires the administration of the two different vectors in sequence. Vaccitech’s pipeline includes therapeutic vaccines against hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human papillomavirus (HPV), implicated in liver and cervical cancers, respectively. The startup’s technology also forms the basis for the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
Discover more Pharma Startups
Startups developing cancer vaccines, such as the examples highlighted in this report, focus on cell therapy and personalized cancer vaccines, as well as various vaccine delivery solutions. While all of these technologies play a major role in advancing cancer treatments, they only represent the tip of the iceberg. To explore more vaccine technologies, simply get in touch to let us look into your areas of interest. For a more general overview, you can download our free Pharma Innovation Report to save your time and improve strategic decision-making.
