DCPrime obtains broad patent protection in the EU for proprietary DCOne® platform. DCPrime, a clinical stage cancer immunotherapy company, has been granted a European patent on its DCOne® platform. The patent covers its proprietary cell line DCOne®, the accompanying methods for obtaining mature dendritic cells, and the mature dendritic cells which are obtainable by this method, to be applied either as a stand-alone cancer vaccine product, or after loading with cancer antigens. The patent (EP 2 931 878 B1) ensures market exclusivity for DCPrime in all major European markets until 2033.
DCPrime’s DCOne® technology offers a way to generate dendritic cell products from a sustainable cell line to be applied as allogeneic products. Currently, therapeutic vaccines based on dendritic cells are made through production methods with cells harvested directly from patients or healthy subjects, thus making it difficult to standardize these products, and the production process is not scalable. A novel approach is therefore needed and DCOne® offers the opportunity for such a novel approach. It is a precursor cell line for dendritic cells derived from peripheral blood of a patient with acute myeloid leukemia, AML, and the production process for dendritic cells derived from DCOne® is reproducible and allows for large scale production. Also, because of their AML origin, DCOne® based vaccines endogenously express multiple undefined and defined leukemia antigens shared with other tumors. Therefore, these vaccines have the capability to stimulate broad T cell responses against multiple antigens. This greatly increases the chance of attacking a heterogeneous tumor cell population, reducing the risk of tumor escape. Together, these characteristics make DCOne®-derived dendritic cells ideal candidates for cancer immune-therapeutics.
“This patent is a leap forward in protecting our technology and derived applications in the future and is significant in ensuring further development,” said Ada M. Kruisbeek, DCPrime’s CEO and co-founder. “It is our intention to expand our DCOne® derived therapeutics to target solid tumors and other hematological malignancies as well in the near future”.
About DCPrime
DCPrime B.V. is a clinical stage company focused on developing cancer vaccines based on its proprietary dendritic cell (DC) technology platform DCOne®. DCPrime is funded by Van Herk Royalty, a Dutch investment firm dedicated to provide sustainable support to innovative biotech companies.
DCOne®‐based vaccines share all immune‐stimulatory properties with patient-derived dendritic cell‐based vaccines, and have the simple logistics of off‐the‐shelf products. In addition, DCOne® cells express a range of known tumor antigens, which are targets in several cancer types. A commercial scale manufacturing process to produce DCOne®‐based vaccines is under development and the company successfully completed a Phase I/IIa study in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) with its lead product DCP-001. The study showed that DCP-001 vaccination is safe and feasible, and indicates that in patients who have a capable immune system, DCP-001 vaccination can induce a multi-functional immune response to the vaccine. DCP-001 is designated as an Orphan Medicinal Product in the European Union (EU/3/12/969) for treatment of AML patients which are in post-remission. Subsequent clinical studies are in preparation for AML and MM.
DCPrime is a spin-off from the VU medical centre, Amsterdam, and is based in the Leiden BioSciencepark, The Netherlands. For more information please visit http://www.dcprime.nl/