Hervolution has been awarded an EU grant to further explore the role of IPT001 in oncological immunotherapy approaches against hard to treat cancers

16 Dec 2022
By Hervolution

The goal of the project is to develop novel combinatorial strategies to therapeutically treat hard-to-treat cancers, hereunder assessing the efficacy of IPT001 in combination with checkpoint inhibitors.
Eurostars-3 collaborative project: This project is a collaboration between Hervolution, Spanish Oryzon (ORY), and the University of Copenhagen.
Global budget: The project has a total budget of 1.4 million euros.
Hervolution will receive up to 300,000 euros from the grant.

This initiative aims to advance our understanding of the potential applications of IPT001 in enhancing oncological immunotherapy, ultimately contributing to the development of more effective treatment strategies for cancer patients.

“Significant progress has been made as Hervolution secures a substantial EU fund to expand its research efforts into utilizing IPT001 within the field of oncological immunotherapy. This funding is part of the Eurostars-3 collaborative project, in conjunction with esteemed partners ORYZON and the University of Copenhagen. The project, boasting a total budget of 1.4 million euros, has allocated up to 300,000 euros to Hervolution. The primary objective of this initiative is to evaluate the effectiveness of IPT001 when combined with checkpoint inhibitors and/or oncological vaccines for the treatment of diverse solid tumors.

December 16th, 2022, marked an important milestone for Danish institution Hervolution as it announced the approval of funding for the BRAVE Project (Breaking immune Resistance of Advanced cancers by HERV-K Vaccination and Epigenetic modulation) by the EU-intergovernmental organization EUREKA secretariat, under the Eurostars-3 program. Collaborating with ORYZON and the University of Copenhagen, Hervolution is embarking on a comprehensive investigation into the role of IPT001 within various immunotherapy strategies targeting solid tumors. These strategies include leveraging checkpoint inhibitors and oncological vaccines.

The project is set to commence on May 1, 2023, and will be executed over a span of two years.

Dr. Peter Holst, Chief Scientific Officer of Hervolution, highlighted the potential of checkpoint inhibitors and targeted oncological vaccines as viable alternatives for solid tumors that demonstrate poor response to chemotherapy or limited responsiveness. However, the effectiveness of these strategies largely depends on the successful immune presentation of antigens by tumor cells. Certain tumors, known as “cold tumors,” manage to evade this requirement. Through the utilization of IPT001, an immunotherapy agent that specifically targets Human Endogenous Retro Virus, researchers anticipate enhanced immune response, opening doors for improved efficacy when combined with these immunotherapy approaches. These approaches has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of a number of cancer types that have not yet benefitted substantially from immunotherapies.