OTTAWA, ON – Wednesday, August 2, 2017 – BioCanRx and its partners today announce $2,832,397 in funding for two collaborative research projects including a clinical trial aiming to treat hematologic cancers with MiHA-targeted immunotherapy. These projects come out of the latest round of BioCanRx’s full applications.
Funding partners for these projects include Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux de l’Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal – Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont, AmorChem – SpecifiT, Center of Excellence in Cell Therapy – Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont, C3i, CellCan, Northern Biologics, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre – University Health Network.
Dr. Robert Rottapel and Dr. Denis-Claude Roy will each lead national research teams comprised of researchers, clinicians and trainees working together to find improved treatment options and outcomes for cancer patients. Here are the objectives of the two-funded projects:
- Dr. Rottapel’s Catalyst project aims to develop monoclonal antibodies (mAb) targeting the Relaxin hormonal pathway as a therapeutic treatment for ovarian cancer.
- Dr. Roy’s clinical trial aims to provide safer and more effective treatments for patients with resistant hematologic cancers (HC). They have identified 39 MiHA that are preferentially expressed on HC over other tissues, thus minimizing the risk of Graph versus host disease. They will initiate a clinical trial using this novel strategy to treat patients with lymphoid HCs and also expand the HLA typing repertoire in order to increase patient reach.
Read the full project summaries:
