Monon Bioventures receives SBIR grant to develop glioblastoma therapeutic developed at Purdue

Monon Bioventures receives SBIR grant to develop glioblastoma therapeutic developed at Purdue

Monon Bioventures LLC has received a one-year, $398,314 Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Cancer Institute to demonstrate the feasibility of producing a glioblastoma therapeutic developed at Purdue University College of Pharmacy.

"Glioblastoma is one of the most aggressive cancers of the central nervous system. It grows, multiplies and spreads rapidly, is almost always fatal and there is no effective cure. New, effective therapies are urgently needed," said Sandro Matosevic, the assistant professor in the Department of Industrial and Physical Pharmacy, who developed a potential treatment called Monon Bioventures was offered as an option.

Matosevic's work shows that human "natural killer" (NK) cells can be "weaponized" to specifically attack glioblastomas.

When treating certain types of cancer, related approaches are used with other immune cells, called T cells, obtained from the patient. Natural killer cells can be accepted from multiple donors, but not just the patient, making them much safer and greatly expanding our ability to produce them in large doses to treat many patients. They are also very efficient at killing glioblastoma cells.”

Sandro Matosevic, Assistant Professor, Department of Industrial and Physical Pharmacy

Joe Trebley, president and CEO of Monon Bioventures, based at the Indiana Center for Biomedical Innovation, said federal funding for Matosevic's work has the potential to offer hope to patients suffering from glioblastoma.

“Its discovery provides crucial preclinical evidence for the concept of the disease,” Trebley said. “Our plans are to translate this discovery into the clinic by first working on the manufacturability of the novel therapeutic.”

Monon Bioventures will collaborate on the treatment with Matosevic's laboratory at Purdue and Genezen, a contract viral vector and gene therapy development and manufacturing company (CDMO).

“Arming the NK cells requires genetic modification of the cells using an appropriate viral vector as a tool,” Trebley said. "Genezen is a scientific leader in the production of lentiviral vectors and their use in cell transduction, i.e. the transfer of genes to cells. We are fortunate to have them here in Indiana."

Genezen Chief Business Officer Dave Wilhite praised Monon Bioventures for its strong track record of translating innovative discoveries into clinical assets.

“The use of natural killer cells as a therapy is at the cutting edge of innovation and has shown great promise,” said Wilhite. “This is the strength of Monon Bioventures and we are pleased to work with them on this project.”

Once the grant-supported work is completed, Monon Bioventures will discuss with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the company's plan to advance the treatment into clinical trials. After receiving feedback from the FDA, the company will seek to further fund the project.

Trebley praised the NCI and its SBIR program for crucially supporting innovation and discovery in the early stages of cancer research.

“The grants are highly competitive, yet critically important to funding novel potential therapeutics that will be translated from academic laboratories,” he said.

Matosevic disclosed his glioblastoma treatment to the Purdue Research Foundation's Office of Technology Commercialization, which has filed a patent to protect intellectual property. The Office has granted Monon Bioventures the opportunity to negotiate a license for this intellectual property.

Source:

Purdue University