ImmuneRegen's Homspera enhances survival of animals vaccinated with experimental melanoma vaccine

Oct 29 2010

ImmuneRegen BioSciences, Inc.®, a wholly owned subsidiary of IR BioSciences Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB:IRBS), today announced that treatment with its lead compound, Homspera®, improved the survival of animals vaccinated with an experimental melanoma vaccine.

In studies performed at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, a leading academic centre with expertise in medical science and healthcare in the Netherlands, animals were seeded with melanoma tumor cells and resulting tumors were then "cryoablated," a process in which cells are frozen and turned into debris rather than intact cells, with the resulting cellular debris effectively serving as a tumor "vaccine." Homspera was injected near the tumors just after ablation, and animals allowed six weeks to recover. Following subsequent injection of melanoma tumor cells, Homspera-treated vaccinated animals showed enhanced survival compared to control vaccinated animals.

ImmuneRegen's Homspera has previously been found to improve the efficacy of a melanoma cancer vaccine in mice, resulting in persistent and specific immune responses associated with strong inhibition of melanoma tumor growth. These studies utilized a different, yet similar, melanoma vaccine indicating that the boosting effect of Homspera may be present in other, not yet tested, vaccines as well. Additionally, previous studies have demonstrated efficacy of Homspera in enhancing immune responses to infectious disease vaccines, such as influenza. Both cancer and infectious disease applications are being aggressively developed by ImmuneRegen in combination with significant academic and industry partners.

"We are pleased to be presented with these findings from Radboud University," said Hal Siegel Ph.D., ImmuneRegen's Chief Scientific Officer. "We are looking forward to additional observational data as well as mechanistic insights into Homspera's actions in cryoablated tumors, as this represents another paradigm in which immunostimulation augmented by Homspera has resulted in mitigation of melanoma-associated mortality."