Nykode Therapeutics Announces Issuance of Key Patent Covering Individualized Neoantigen Based Vaccines

Nykode Therapeutics ASA recently announced the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued US Patent No. 12,059,459 titled Therapeutic Anticancer Neoepitope Vaccine.

The newly issued patent describes Nykode’s fully individualized neoantigen based vaccine, VB10.NEO, which is in development for the treatment of locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors. The 20-year expiration date of this patent is January 5, 2037. Related patents were previously granted to the company in Russia, India, and Australia.

Michael Engsig, CEO of Nykode, said “We are very pleased with the granting of this important patent in the US, a key market for Nykode. Continuously expanding our patent protection is a core strategy for us. The granting of this patent is a testament to the world-class innovation taking place in Nykode’s labs. We remain dedicated to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in medicine, bringing hope to patients and their families around the globe.”

VB10.NEO is a proprietary individualized neoantigen vaccine in development for the treatment of locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors under an exclusive, worldwide clinical collaboration with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group. The vaccine is designed to be produced on-demand according to the neoantigen profile of an individual patient. Neoantigens are proteins generated by tumor-specific mutations not present in normal tissues and are thus an attractive target for cancer immunotherapy as they may be recognized as foreign by the immune system.

Nykode is currently conducting a clinical study evaluating VB10.NEO: VB N-02, an open-label Phase 1b, dose-escalation study of the safety and antigen-specific immune responses elicited by VB10.NEO in combination with Roche’s checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab in patients with locally advanced and metastatic tumors (NCT05018273).

Nykode Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of novel immunotherapies with a focus on the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. Nykode’s modular vaccine technology specifically targets antigens to antigen presenting cells (APC), which have been shown to induce a broad, strong and long-lasting antigen specific immune response in cancer, which correlates with clinical responses.

Nykode’s lead product candidates are VB10.16, a therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of HPV16 induced malignancies which demonstrated favorable safety and efficacy results from its Phase 2 trial for the treatment of cervical cancer. VB10.16 is being expanded into multiple trials for treatment of head and neck cancer and cervical cancer. VB10.NEO, an individualized cancer neoantigen vaccine, is exclusively out-licensed to Genentech, a member of the Roche Group.

The company’s partnerships include Genentech within oncology and a multi-target collaboration with Regeneron in oncology and infectious diseases.

Nykode is also utilizing its APC-targeted technology to create an inverse vaccine platform for the potential use in autoimmune disorders, organ transplant rejections, anti-drug antibody reactions and allergy.

Nykode Therapeutics’ shares are traded on the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE: NYKD). For more information, visit http://www.nykode.com.