The signing of an exclusive option agreement between the University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV) and Prokarium, negotiated by the Technology Transfer Office (PACTT, UNIL–CHUV), will enable the joint development of a new treatment discovered within the Department of Urology.
The Research Unit of the Urology Department at theCHUV
, led by Dr Denise Nardelli-Haefliger, has developed a new treatment for non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) based on immunotherapy. This therapy involves the use of a Salmonella vaccine administered topically to stimulate the immune response against the tumour. (For further details, see the attached publications). A Phase I clinical trial with the Ty21a vaccine is currently underway at the Swiss Cancer Centre (CHUV
), under the supervision of Prof. Patrice Jichlinski and Dr Ilaria Lucca. (See the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) portal dedicated to research involving human subjects in Switzerland
)
Efforts to translate this research into benefits for patients began with the filing of a patent by the Swiss National Science Foundation (PACTT
), which supported the inventors (Dr D. Nardelli-Haefliger, Prof. P. Jichlinski and Dr S. Domingos Pereira) throughout the process leading to commercialisation.
The signing of an exclusive option agreement between the Swiss National Science Foundation (CHUV
) and the British biotechnology company Prokarium marks a key step towards the development of this treatment.
Read Prokarium’s press release
.
Non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer affects 400,000 new patients worldwide every year. Given the frequent stock shortages, the standard treatment, the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, is not available to all patients; a temporary authorisation from Swissmedic allows the Urology Department to offer treatment with Ty21a where appropriate.
Professor Beat Roth, the new Head of the Urology Department, is delighted to continue and develop research and clinical trials into this new treatment for bladder cancer.
