Details

Last Funding Type

Series Unknown

Last Funding Money Raised

$36.50M

Industries

Biotechnology,Health Care,Medical,Therapeutics

Founded date

Jan 1, 1991

Operating Status

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Therion Biologics Corporation is focusing on the development and commercialization of innovative vaccines for the treatment of major cancers. Currently, Therion has two lead products moving into pivotal clinical trials in the next two years: PROSTVAC-VF for prostate cancer, developed by Therion, and ALVAC-CEA/B7.1, developed in collaboration with Aventis Pasteur Ltd., for colorectal cancer.

The company also has a broad pipeline of vaccines in early clinical development for treatment of other major cancers, including breast cancer, lung cancer, melanoma and other solid tumors. Therion's partners include Aventis Pasteur, the National Cancer Institute and a network of leading clinical institutions around the world. Therion is a privately-held biotechnology company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Therion's goal is to generate safe and effective therapeutic cancer vaccines that stimulate the immune system to specifically attack cancer cells, and thereby stabilize disease or induce tumor regression, improve patients' quality of life, and increase patient survival.

While there has been significant progress in the treatment of some cancers, the prognosis for many cancer patients remains poor. For example, colorectal cancer affects an estimated 130,000 new patients and accounts for 56,300 deaths each year in the United States. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men, with an estimated 180,400 new cases and 31,900 deaths in the U.S. annually.

Recent advances in immunology and tumor biology have opened the door for the development of new generation therapeutic cancer vaccines. In particular, scientists now have a better understanding of the key molecular signals involved in eliciting potent and specific immune responses. This allows researchers to engineer vaccines that induce elements of the immune system required to eliminate cancer cells. Therion is at the forefront, quickly moving leading research into clinical development.

Capitalizing on these recent scientific advances, Therion is targeting many of the major cancers currently lacking adequate treatment. Therion's therapeutic cancer vaccines for breast, lung, colorectal and prostate cancers, and melanoma address a majority of the large and rapidly growing market for cancer treatments.