Fighting cancer with the immune system
Cancer treatments are now increasingly combination treatments, in which cancer Immunotherapy or Immuno-Oncology (IO) treatments are key components. The aim of this approach is to harness the body’s own immune response to support cancer treatment. Orion’s ambition is to start clinical testing of its first IO drug treatment in 2025.
“Oncology is one of Orion’s core therapy areas in pharmaceutical R&D, and our goal is to boost this area in line with our growth targets. Thus, we are also expanding into immuno-oncology. Our ambition is to start clinical testing of the first immuno-oncological treatment in 2025,” says Outi Vaarala, Orion’s Senior Vice President for R&D.
Drug-based cancer treatments are now increasingly combination treatments, in which immuno-oncology (IO) treatments are key components. IO treatments have shown their efficacy in cancer treatment and particularly when combined with other oncology treatments targeting the drivers of tumour growth.
“Cancer Immunotherapy or Immuno-Oncology is a type of treatment that seeks to unlock the body’s own immune system to fight against cancer. Cancer Immunotherapy has achieved exceptional clinical results in multiple cancer types. However, majority of cancer patients fail to clear their cancer. Thus, there is a need to identify novel IO targets and cancer supporting mechanisms that are the key focus area of research within IO team,” says Anil K Thotakura, the head of the Immuno-Oncology team.
New and efficient drug molecules fighting cancer
Orion has established its new Immuno-Oncology team at the end of 2019 to develop and reinforce the capabilities of Orion’s Immuno-Oncology platform. The team is tasked with identifying and validating new candidate molecules, developing new methods for drug discovery and produce new knowledge about complex immunological mechanisms.
We are focusing to develop first in class and/or best in class IO drug molecules to more cancer types and ultimately to cure cancer.
“We are proactively engaging in scientific collaboration to assess candidate molecules or drug candidates developed by other companies or universities for in-licensing with us at Orion,” Thotakura says.
