VIROLYTIXS

Oncolytic virus

Cancer treatment

Opportunity

Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for an estimated 10 million deaths, or one in six deaths, in 2018. This burden continues to grow globally, exerting tremendous physical, emotional and financial strain on individuals, families, communities and health systems. Unfortunately, many cancers remain incurable despite recent advances in radio-, chemo-, and immunotherapy; leaving an urgent need to design novel strategies to fight a disease that is expected to affect over 29 million lives per year by 2040.

Solution

Develop viruses into anticancer weapons with a proprietary synthetic engineered enterovirus platform improved in tumor-tropism and safety, whose oncolytic and immunotherapeutic capacity has already been demonstrated in tumor-cell lines from liver, lung and pancreas. In addition, its delivery can be achieved intratumorally alone or in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors or other immune-oncology agents, resulting in significant treatment improvements, and its dual mechanism of action.

Team

Pilar Moreno – Co-Founder. PhD, Virologist (IP Montevideo and Udelar).

Gonzalo Moratorio – Co-Founder. PhD, Virologist (IP Montevideo and Udelar).