On January 10, 2023 Defence Therapeutics Inc. ("Defence" or the "Company"), a Canadian biopharmaceutical company specialized in the development of immune-oncology vaccines and drug delivery technologies, is pleased to reported the advancement in the development of its AccumTM-mRNA vaccine program (Press release, Defence Therapeutics, JAN 10, 2023, View Source [SID1234626260]). This R&D program will not only impact the field of cancer immunotherapy, but it can also be directly applied to the development of new vaccines targeting infectious diseases.

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The mRNA vaccination approach offers tremendous advantages over the use of peptide-or protein-based vaccines. mRNA like any other biomolecule, is extremely sensitive to harsh conditions such as high acidity and enzymatic reactions, which would directly impede their therapeutic potency. In addition, mRNA molecules need to reach the cytoplasm where they can be efficiently translated into full proteins, this is where AccumTM may add stability and potency.

Defence is working with a private European company to synthesize mRNA vaccine coupled with its AccumTM. Defence’s has now completed the first phase of its AccumTM-mRNA vaccine development by achieving the synthesis and the Quality Control of the amino-modified polyA tail Ova mRNA. Defence is advancing on the second step, which consists of coupling AccumTM variants to amino-modified mRNA as well as testing and analyzing: i) the effect of AccumTM and linkers on mRNA stability, ii) the linker coupling onto amino-modified mRNA, iii) the AccumTM coupling onto linker-amino modified mRNA, and finally iv) the purification and analysis of the AccumTM-linker-amino-modified mRNA.

The third and final step of this Accum-mRNA vaccine development, scheduled at the end of January 2023, will be the production of a small vaccine batch to conduct in vivo studies in animals as a head-to-head comparison between AccumTM-linked and "naked" mRNA vaccines for their potential to generate an immune response capable of eradicating and controlling established tumors.

"The development of our AccumTM-mRNA vaccine is on track, our in vivo study on animals with pre-established solid tumors is planned for this quarter with the objective to demonstrate that AccumTM can significantly enhance the therapeutic potency of a given mRNA vaccine", says Mr. Plouffe, CEO of Defence Therapeutics.

The mRNA therapeutics market size is projected to surpass around USD 128.14 billion by 2030 and growing at a registered CAGR of 13.03% from 2022 to 2030 according to Precedence Research.