Dr. Fischer: GenVec was founded in 1992 to explore the potential of gene-based medicines, which was a very forward-looking concept back then. From the outset, we have tackled difficult problems because we believe the new technology should address hard-to-meet medical needs. Those have included things such as new cancer treatments and, more recently, efforts to prevent infectious diseases. It's really gratifying for us now to have our lead product candidate, TNFeradeª, now in Phase III testing in pancreatic cancer, a disease for which there is no effective therapy.
In addition, we've had substantial efforts - all of which are supported by outside funding focused on the application of our core adenovector technology - for the development of new vaccines. These programs are important to us for multiple reasons: They reduce our cash needs because they are fully funded; they also accelerate the development of new technology, which has been critical for us to stay ahead of our competitors and generate new product opportunities. That portion of the businesses is doing well and has continued to grow over the last several years.
Most recently, we've had a leading-edge program in hearing loss emerge. This program is also based on our core gene delivery technology. Hearing loss is a major problem without effective drug therapy, and we are excited about the potential our technology has to address this serious unmet medical need.
TWST: One of the technologies you have is adenovector. What is that?
Dr. Fischer: First, I'd like to explain the clinical problem, and then I'll tell you how our technology solves it. There is a potent protein, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), known to stimulate the immune system and have significant anti-tumor properties. For a number of years it was studied clinically, but when the protein was given in the bloodstream it would cause too many harmful side effects to be useful. Thus, the protein looked promising but because of drug delivery problems, it couldn't be used effectively.
Our goal was to find a way to solve the TNF-alpha toxicity problem. Through our innovative technology, we were able to deliver the gene to the tumor. Delivery of the gene allows cells in the tumor to produce TNF-alpha locally at the site of the disease without leading to high levels of TNF-A in the bloodstream. With this technology, we are able to express the anti-cancer protein without the toxicity that could occur when TNF-alpha is administered in the bloodstream. This is an example of how GenVec's technology can be used - a gene stimulates the production of a protein locally, creating a therapeutic effect without toxicity.
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