Vaxinia

Vaxinia (CF33-hNIS) is an oncolytic chimeric orthopoxvirus (poxvirus) developed by City of Hope and licensed by Imugene. It is engineered to selectively infect, replicate in, and kill cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue. The virus carries the human sodium iodide symporter (hNIS) gene, which allows for non-invasive imaging of viral replication using PET or SPECT scans and potentially enables targeted radiotherapy with radioiodine. Vaxinia has demonstrated broad anti-tumor activity across various solid tumors in preclinical models and is currently being evaluated in Phase 1 clinical trials (MAST study) as a monotherapy and in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors like pembrolizumab. It has also shown potential in treating gastric cancer peritoneal metastasis by depleting immunosuppressive M2-polarized tumor-associated macrophages and reprogramming the tumor microenvironment from a cold to a hot state.

Brand names

Vaxinia

Other names

CF33-hNISCF-33-hNISCF 33-hNIS