{"id":30704,"date":"2017-04-13T17:16:21","date_gmt":"2017-04-13T21:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sciencebusiness.technewslit.com\/?p=30704"},"modified":"2017-04-13T17:16:21","modified_gmt":"2017-04-13T21:16:21","slug":"cancer-gene-therapy-company-raises-85m-in-ipo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/?p=30704","title":{"rendered":"Cancer Gene Therapy Company Raises $85M in IPO"},"content":{"rendered":"
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13 April 2017. A developer of cancer immunotherapies that transfer gene treatments into patients with brain tumors is raising $85 million in its initial public stock offering. Tocagen Inc.<\/a>, in San Diego, issued 8.5 million shares priced at $10.00. At the 4:00 pm ET closing bell today, shares of Tocagen, with the Nasdaq symbol TOCA<\/a>, traded at $11.90, a 19 percent increase; the Nasdaq overall closed down 0.53 percent.<\/p>\n

Tocagen, founded in 2007<\/a>, is developing treatments for cancer that harness gene therapies to kill cancer cells and free the immune system to clear the tumor from the patient. The company’s technology<\/a>, first developed by Noriyuki Kasahara<\/a> at University of Miami medical school, delivers gene therapies with benign viruses called retroviral replicating vectors; Kasahara is a scientific advisor<\/a> to Tocagen. The viruses penetrate the cancer cells, then replicate in the tumor to infect more tumor cells, but ignore surrounding cells and tissue.<\/p>\n

The company’s lead products, code-named Toca 511 and Toca FC<\/a>, are designed initially to treat gliomas<\/a>, brain cancers affecting glial cells that support the neurons or nerve cells sending electronic signals. Gliomas can impair brain functions, and one type of glioma known as glioblastoma multiforme<\/a> is particularly aggressive, with few treatment options and a poor prognosis.<\/p>\n

Toca 511 uses retroviral replicating vectors to deliver genes from yeast that carry instructions to produce an enzyme called cytosine deaminase<\/a>. This enzyme, not produced in humans, is spread through the tumor with the benign viruses to kill cancer cells.<\/p>\n

The companion Toca FC therapy contains a compound called 5-fluorocytosine<\/a>, a legacy anti-fungal drug, that can cross the blood-brain barrier. When exposed to brain tumor cells infected with cytosine deaminase — delivered by Toca 511 — 5-fluorocytosine metabolizes into 5-fluorouracil<\/a>, a chemotherapy drug treating a wide range of solid tumor cancers. Fluorouracil kills cancer cells that Toca 511 may have missed, but also myeloid cells and tumor associated macrophag<\/a>e cells suppressing the immune system. By removing these suppressor cells, immune system T-cells are released to kill any residual cancer cells and clear the tumor from the brain.<\/p>\n

Tocagen tested Toca 511 and Toca FC in an early-stage clinical trial<\/a> among 45 patients with gliomas that showed the treatments were well tolerated, but also extended the patients’ survival to nearly 14 months, compared to 7 months for glioma patients not taking part in the study. An intermediate- and late-stage trial of the treatments among brain tumor patients is now underway. The company is also testing the therapies in an early-stage trial among individuals with metastatic colorectal, pancreatic, breast, lung, melanoma, and renal cancers.<\/p>\n

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