SBIR Awards Etubics $1.5M To Manufacture Breast Cancer Immunotherapy

Etubics has received an approximately $1.5 million contract from the Small Business Innovation Research Development Center of the National Cancer Institute to manufacture its breast cancer immunotherapeutic, ETBX-021. The money will be used to generate the data required to support an IND application of ETBX-021 GMP product for a Phase I/II clinical trial.

ETBX-021 utilizes the Etubics Platform, which is stealth to the immune system and has the ability to deliver a long lasting active immune response against cancer targets, educating the immune system's T-cells to act as if the cancer was a simple virus, according to the company.

Etubics reported that preclinical studies have shown ETBX-021 can induce not only the traditional antibody response, but also potent cell-mediated immunity against HER2/neu tumors. Additionally, ETBX-021 prevented establishment of HER2/neu-expressing tumors and significantly inhibited progression of established tumors in mice models, the company said.

The award follows another grant Etubics received in July of approximately $1.03 million from the National Institute of Health to research and develop a therapeutic vaccine for HIV/human papilloma virus associated oropharyngeal and tonsillar malignancy.

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