Gradalis, Inc

Gradalis is a late-stage clinical biotechnology company developing immunotherapies for multiple cancer indications including an upcoming Phase 3 registration trial in patients with ovarian cancer. The company’s proprietary bi-shRNA therapy platform, which has been proven in its clinical studies, can be utilized to silence a broad range of genes and is applicable to multiple cancer types. About Vigil Vigil® is the first cellular therapy to show positive survival benefits in a randomized controlled clinical study of patients with solid tumors. Vigil is a self-navigating cellular immunotherapy that addresses the major deficits of leading cancer treatments. Vigil uses all of a patient’s tumor-related antigens to identify cancer cells and then enhances the training of the immune system to recognize and attack those cells. Gradalis’s proprietary bi-shRNA platform accomplishes this via three key functions:(1) it blocks furin, the enzyme that generates the immunosuppressive cytokines TGF beta types 1 and 2;(2) it activates effector cells including antigen-presenting dendritic cells and CD8+ T cells via the production of GM-CSF; and (3) it induces an immune response to the full complement of neo-antigens from the patient’s tumor via intradermal administration. In a Phase 2b trial, Vigil showed a positive trend in the primary endpoint of recurrence-free survival in the overall population and a significant improvement in recurrence-free survival and overall survival in a pre-planned subgroup analysis of Stage newly diagnosed ovarian cancer patients with the BRCA wild type (BRCA-wt) molecular profile. The company is preparing to initiate a clinical study intended for product registration in patients in this subgroup. Additionally, Phase 1 results in an all-comer trial have shown positive signals of activity in multiple tumor types.