Viruses On The Verge Of Joining The War On Cancer

14 Dec 2012

• By Arlene Weintraub

With new approaches in development that add or subtract genetic material to viruses, or arm them with immune-boosting proteins, oncolytic viruses may become the next modality for treating cancer. Several smaller companies and their backers – as well as those who have yet to invest in the space – eagerly await results from Amgen’s Phase III program OncoVex.

The idea of using viruses to kill cancer has been around since the beginning of the 20th century, when oncologists first realized that patients who caught a cold or the flu sometimes experienced spontaneous remissions. But early attempts to use viruses as therapy failed, mostly because the viruses were too weak to be effective, or they had to be given in such high doses that they put patients at risk of developing viral infections.

A handful of biotech companies refused to give up on the viruses, spending much of the past two decades devising...