Benzinga | Jan 25, 2022 07:35AM EST

SIGA Announces Preclinical Oncology Research Collaboration With Bioarchitech

SIGA Technologies, Inc. (SIGA) (NASDAQ:SIGA), a commercial-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the health security market, today announced that it entered into a collaboration with Bioarchitech, a United Kingdom-based biotech company developing immunotherapy for the treatment of cancer. The research collaboration will investigate TPOXX(r) (tecovirimat) in combination with Bioarchitech's proprietary vaccinia-based immunotherapy platform in preclinical studies. This platform utilizes engineered antibodies and other proteins expressed within the genome of an oncolytic virus. Cancer cells infected by the vaccinia virus release these potent immunotherapy molecules into the tumor where they orchestrate the destruction of malignant cells using the patient's own immune system.

"TPOXX has potential as a powerful tool to better enable success of vaccinia-based immunotherapies," said Dr. Phil Gomez, CEO of SIGA. "TPOXX, a potent antiviral drug to vaccinia, could potentially increase the immunotherapeutic effect of such therapies by allowing the safe use of higher doses of vaccinia vectors. We are pleased to enter into this collaboration with Bioarchitech, an innovator of next generation cancer immunotherapies."

"The vision of definitive treatment for cancer by harnessing the power of the immune system is gradually coming into view through the combination of oncolytic viruses with immune mediators," said Prof Geoff Hale, Managing Director of Bioarchitech. "Vaccinia virus offers unique advantages because of its ability to carry a large payload and target a wide variety of tumor types. We are excited about the prospect of using TPOXX to enable delivery of larger doses which is critical for the effective use of new oncolytic therapies."

On July 13, 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved oral TPOXX for the treatment of smallpox to mitigate the impact of a potential outbreak or bioterror attack. In preclinical studies, TPOXX has been shown to be active against most orthopoxviruses, including vaccinia (published in NEJM, 2018). The unique mechanism of action of TPOXX coupled with published efficacy in animal studies, make it an important addition to development programs focused on vaccinia-based cancer therapies. In 2020, SIGA entered into a collaboration with Turnstone Biologics to supply TPOXX to support Turnstone's proprietary oncolytic vaccinia immunotherapy clinical programs.