Allied announces Coridon to develop HPV therapeutic vaccine

The board of Allied Healthcare Group has announced that its investment company Coridon has embarked on the development of a next generation therapeutic Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. The program will be based on preliminary work by Coridon founder Professor Ian Frazer’s team and follows on from Professor Frazer’s work that resulted in two successful cervical cancer preventative vaccines - Gardasil, marketed by Merck, and Cervarix, marketed by GlaxoSmithKline.

Coridon’s HPV vaccine has been designed to combat existing infection with the HPV virus; to prevent and treat cervical and other HPV-associated cancers, therefore improving on existing HPV vaccines by having a therapeutic advantage. Coridon will initially collaborate with the University of Queensland’s Diamantina Institute to test the vaccine in preclinical models that they have established.

Neil Finlayson, Coridon CEO, said, “This collaboration is based on the use of our unique patented optimisation technology combined with Professor Frazer’s undoubted expertise and experience in vaccine development and Human Papillomavirus.”

Coridon is developing the next generation of vaccines for the prevention and treatment for a range of infectious diseases and cancers in humans. The company’s DNA vaccine technologies differ from conventional vaccines in that they offer both preventative and therapeutic value and have the potential to be delivered with a range of adjuvants.

“The work by Professor Frazer’s team at Coridon has significant potential globally to treat those patients already infected with the virus, something the current vaccines cannot do,” said Lee Rodne, MD of Allied Healthcare Group. “This is another example of the potential for Coridon’s technology in the prevention and treatment of a wide range of cancers and disease.”

HPV is associated with several human cancers, most notably cervical cancer. Current HPV vaccines, such as Gardasil, have proved to be safe and highly effective; however, they are not suitable for all people. Furthermore, current HPV vaccines are not therapeutic, and there is a significant number of people already infected with HPV and at risk of developing HPV-associated cancers.

HPV is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases in the world and, as well as cervical cancer, is associated with a variety of anogenital cancers and head and neck cancer. Cervical cancer is the second-largest cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide. Globally, this equates to 510,000 cases per year and about 288,000 deaths, according to the WHO.

In the USA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 26.8% of 14- to 59-year-old females are currently infected, that over 25 million people have the HPV infection and another 6.2 million people will become infected each year.

According to the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health, in 2009 there were 11,270 new cases and 4070 deaths from cervical cancer in the USA. Medicare reports that approximately $1.7 billion is spent in the USA each year to treat cervical cancer. Although useful in a defined population, the two currently used HPV vaccines generate in excess of $1.5 billion in sales annually. An effective therapeutic vaccine therefore has enormous potential.