Enhancing natural anti-cancer immunity

Nouscom’s differentiated and proprietary heterologous prime/boost platform technology employs a great ape adenovirus (GAd) followed by a Modified Vaccinia Virus Ankara (MVA). We have previously demonstrated that non-human primate adenoviruses trigger potent immune responses in humans (Colloca et al,2012), with MVA further expanding and improving the phenotype of antigen-specific T cells (Swadling et al, 2014).

We have engineered our proprietary GAd and MVA vectors to encode an unprecedented number of cancer neoantigens compared with other platforms, to more efficiently induce and expand cancer-specific T cells. This unique combination of potent platform and high neoantigen payload allows Nouscom to target tumor indications characterized by high tumor mutational burden in combination with checkpoint inhibitors and other immunomodulators. This strategy has been validated in different animal models and is supported with strong preclinical data (D’Alise et al, 2019).

Nouscom currently targets human malignancies in its two clinical programmes: NOUS-209 (an off-the-shelf immunotherapy based on shared frameshift neoantigens) and NOUS-PEV (a personalized neoantigen vaccine). Nouscom’s extensive experience in the manufacturing of vaccines and access to a state-of-the art GMP manufacturing facility enable their personalized vaccines to be rapidly designed and manufactured. This rapid delivery of personalized cancer vaccines to patients compresses the time from tumor biopsy and next-generation sequencing to released product, opening up a host of clinical possibilities that were not previously feasible.