A Sneak Peek At Providence Therapeutics On Cell & Gene: The Podcast
By Erin Harris, Editor-In-Chief, Cell & Gene
Follow Me On Twitter @ErinHarris_1
On an upcoming episode of Cell & Gene: The Podcast, you’ll hear from Robert Georgantas III, Ph.D., President and Chief Biotechnology Officer at Providence Therapeutics. According to the company’s website, Providence is a private Canadian biotechnology company that specializes in mRNA vaccine therapies. During our discussion, Robert refers to Providence Therapeutics as a platform company focused on an mRNA medicines ecosystem. Earlier this year, Providence announced its mRNA drug discovery partnership with University Health Network (UHN), which will allow Providence and UHN to develop mRNA-based vaccines and therapeutics for those living with difficult to treat cancers and infectious diseases using Providence’s proprietary mRNA platform technology. Be sure to subscribe to Cell & Gene: The Podcast wherever you get your podcasts, so you don’t miss the episode. In the meantime, I want to give you a glimpse into my conversation with Robert.
As you can imagine, part of my conversation with Robert is dedicated to better understanding some of the learnings gleaned from Providence’s work on an mRNA vaccine for COVID-19 that they have been able to apply to their on-going development of mRNA for personalized cancer treatment. Providence’s lead personalized mRNA cancer vaccine will treat women with advanced ovarian cancer before expanding into other cancers including brain and breast cancer. Indeed, glioblastoma, for example, is the most common aggressive form of advanced brain tumor with 15,000 new cases in U.S. and Canada every year. The trial will be an open-label, dose-escalation, safety study.
I asked Robert what the next handful of years could look like for mRNA cancer vaccines. Part of what he shared includes, “We’re going to see a great deal of proof of concept. And the ultimate thing is efficacy. Is this technology going to work? Whether it's an off-the-shelf vaccine for common antigens or shared antigens, or it’s a fully personalized approach. Another thing that we're going to see is a great deal of advanced engineering. You know, we’re very much in the first generation right now with the lipid systems as well as the mRNA vaccines themselves. Providence is focused on that second generation – exploration into novel types of vaccine strategies. Things like circular RNA, self-amplifying RNA, and whether there is any kind of advantage over a straight mRNA vaccine, a straight mRNA construct. We’re going to start seeing reactions against hard-to-treat cancers, such as pancreatic cancer and glioblastoma.”
If the topic of mRNA-based treatments for cancer interests you, I’m moderating our next Cell & Gene Live on the topic. Join me on Tuesday, December 5, 2023 when I welcome J. Andrew Case (Andy), Head of Supply Chain Cell and Gene Therapies, Genentech/Roche and Daniel Getts, CEO & Co-Founder, Myeloid Therapeutics. We’ll cover how mRNA-based treatments have already shown great promise as a potent therapeutic agent for cancer immunotherapy. Yet, as additional mRNA-based cancer immunotherapies vaccines enter clinical development, operational and supply chain challenges must be addressed to reduce turnaround times and COGS. We’ll break down ways to address uncoordinated and inefficient processes to promote greater stability and immunogenicity. Registration is free as always. See you there.