Q1 2025 Newsletter
Dear Viska investors & supporters,
We founded Viska Bio in 2021 to develop a new therapeutic, a fusion protein, that not only kills cancer but immunizes the body against metastases and recurrence. Our fusion protein targets EGFR, an antigen found in glioblastoma, but also in colorectal, non-small cell lung cancer, and pancreatic cancer. We have chosen glioblastoma as our first clinical target because it has a high unmet clinical need: less than 10% of patients respond to most current therapies, and the average survival time is only 15 months.
I’m thrilled to report that Viska has successfully crossed over from our early-stage work and now has a clear path to get into the clinic. In 2024, we:
Proved that we can produce our therapeutic agent, VISK-103, a fusion protein between the enzyme xanthine oxidase and a targeting antibody. We can produce VISK-103 both in our lab and with the protein production specialists at Thermo Fisher, with whom we’ve developed a roadmap for GLP and GMP manufacturing.
Defined Viska's value proposition as a treatment with a three-pronged mechanism of action that:
Kills cancer directly by inhibiting EGFR signaling and releasing reactive oxygen species into the extracellular space;
Kills surrounding cancer cells with heterogeneous EGFR expression through the diffusion of secondary oxidation products; and
Activates the immune system by inducing immunogenic cell death (ICD), an immune-stimulatory form of cell death that recruits immune cells to the tumor.
Built our experimental roadmap based on this tripartite mechanism that enables us to plan and budget through our IND application to the FDA and into early-stage clinical trials.
The evidence we are building through our experimental roadmap is extremely encouraging: We have demonstrated that VISK-103 induces ICD in vitro and have recently shown that it successfully suppresses glioblastoma tumor growth in mice. Of course, we continue to protect and expand our intellectual property portfolio as we refine our technology.
As you can see from our recognition from Servier, our results are being noticed by pharma companies and potential investors. I look forward to giving you a more in-depth update on our upcoming calls, at BIO Boston in June, and of course in-person with me and the team in Cambridge.
Check out the rest of our newsletter here.
Best regards,
Eric