Features
tVeC and the Dawn of Virotherapy On 27th May 2015, the dawn of a new approach to treating cancer, called Virotherapy, was reported widely in the national press as front-page news. Philip Astley-Sparke (Xt, 1989), was President & CEO of the Company, BioVex, which developed the pioneering therapy, currently known as TVEC, to the point of becoming the first such product to be approved for use in patients. He explained: “the tools are now available to treat patients early in their disease course with the aim of preventing them ever progressing to late stage disease and to cure a substantial proportion outright. In addition to directly killing tumors, TVEC stimulates the body’s immune system to attack cancer cells and in combination with other immune based products that further amp up the immune system, TVEC should further reduce mortality in melanoma and other cancers without the severe side effects more commonly associated with chemotherapy”. Increased survival Virotherapy is the use of genetically engineered viruses that selectively replicate in and kill tumour cells and help vaccinate patients against future relapse. The TVEC approach, using a genetically engineered herpes virus, was
lengthened their survival by years. We finally understand how to activate the human immune system to clear cancer cells, having developed new classes of immunotherapies that dramatically improve the survival of cancer patients. I believe TVEC combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors will not only reduce cancer-related mortality in melanoma but in all cancer types, and we are moving quickly to develop these methods.”
reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology to increase survival by 20 months in melanoma patients given the drug as a first line treatment option and has also cured a significant number of patients who received the drug early in their disease course. Investigators using the drug including Dr Jason Chesney at the Brown Cancer Centre, Louisville, said in a recent third party interview: “the results from this study are amazing. Patients given TVEC at an early stage survived about 20 months longer than patients given a different type of treatment. For some, the therapy has
Shari Wells from Ashland, Kentucky is one of those patients. She entered the trial in 2010 with stage IV, or metastatic, melanoma. Before entering the TVEC trial, she had been through numerous procedures and major surgeries. According to Wells, nothing worked and she was facing a death sentence. “When you hear that you may only have three to six months to live, it is very scary. I would not be alive today if I had not been accepted into the TVEC trial. Dr. Chesney and the James Graham Brown Cancer Center saved my life.” Other patients gave testimony to the potential for the drug to effect outright cures at the US’s Food & Drug Administration advisory panel meeting on April 29th 2015 which resulted in a overwhelming recommendation that the drug be approved. Pathway Philip’s journey began at College where he studied Science A levels. On researching an essay required for his University application, he read Nature articles and became interested in disease pathways and immunology. In his first term at Bristol University, he became aware of a course that dealt with these topics specifically (Cellular and Molecular Pathology) in which he ultimately graduated in 1993.
Philip Astley-Sparke 54
After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen, he became a specialist investment banker in the Life Science field with Robert Fleming working on initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions in the Biotech sector. By working with Biotechnology companies, he realised he would prefer to