Onzima Ventures highlights cancer vaccine potential in N4 Pharma vector

Ozima Ventures said its 49%-owned N4 Pharma has produced encouraging initial research about the versatility and durability of its vector technology that could make it suitable for delivering anti-cancer vaccines and other therapies.

Initial research findings by a University of Queensland study on N4's vaccine technology's suitability as a vector to help deliver pDNA and mRNA molecules for cancer vaccines and therapeutics has been published on the company's website ahead of the next stage of research.

N4 chief executive Nigel Theobald said that an effective delivery vector "must be able to help deliver the vaccine molecule through the cell wall and into the cell where it can 'do its thing'" - known as transfection.

"Our work shows we can vary our nanoparticle size to optimise this effect, demonstrating the versatility of our vector," he said.

“A good vector for pDNA and mRNA delivery must also be able to protect the nucleic acid from attack by nuclease once it is in the body. Our data also shows how well our nanoparticle does this."

“These are two key elements biotech companies look for in novel delivery vectors so this is good news for N4 as this ticks two key initial boxes potential partner companies will want to see.

N4 and the University will now look to determine the mode of action of transfection and carry out other comparative tests to bulk up its data package in order to begin discussions with potential development or licensing partners "later in the year".