INOVIQ (ASX: IIQ) has reported breakthrough preclinical results for its CAR-exosome cancer therapy, demonstrating an 87.8% kill rate against triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and non-small-cell lung cancer cells in laboratory studies. The real-time cell analysis showed that treatment with 2.5 million CAR-NK-EVs resulted in significant cell death within 96 hours across three independent experiments.
Novel Approach to Solid Tumor Treatment
The therapy utilizes chimeric antigen receptor natural killer cells derived from extracellular vesicles (CAR-NK-EVs), representing a departure from traditional CAR-T cell approaches. Chief Scientific Officer Professor Greg Rice explained that while cell therapies have proven effective for blood cancers, they have struggled with solid tumors. INOVIQ's exosome-based platform aims to overcome these limitations by isolating and collecting cancer-killing exosomes rather than reinjecting reprogrammed cells.
"Our exosome therapeutic platform has now been validated, demonstrating its potential to deliver transformative 'off-the-shelf' therapies," Rice stated. "The platform offers potential cost, safety and efficacy advantages over traditional CAR-T cell therapies and will enable development of targeted therapeutics for multiple cancer types."
Targeting Unmet Medical Needs
INOVIQ has strategically focused on triple-negative breast cancer as its initial target, primarily because no current approved cell therapies exist for this aggressive cancer type. The main treatment approach currently relies on chemotherapy, highlighting a significant unmet medical need in this patient population.
The company's exosome technology centers around naturally occurring delivery messengers between cells, functioning as a biological postal service that delivers precise instructions and information to facilitate cellular communication. These exosomes are extremely small, approximately 100 times smaller than human cells, requiring specialized capture technology through INOVIQ's EXO-NET product.
Scalability and Manufacturing Advantages
According to Rice, the CAR-exosome approach offers important scalability benefits over traditional CAR-T therapies. While CAR-T treatments must be manufactured on a per-patient basis, INOVIQ's platform could potentially provide "off-the-shelf" therapy that can be produced, purified for quality, and stored for extended shelf life, enabling treatment of larger patient cohorts.
The therapy is reportedly faster to produce, easier to use, and potentially more effective than existing cell therapies, addressing key manufacturing and accessibility challenges in the current treatment landscape.
Next Steps and Clinical Development
Chair David Williams noted that these results move the company closer to delivering life-changing treatments for cancer patients. INOVIQ plans to advance the CAR-exosome therapy to in vivo studies in mice to evaluate performance in living organisms, with human clinical trials expected to follow the animal studies.
The preclinical success builds on INOVIQ's broader exosome platform, which spans research tools, diagnostics, and therapeutics. The company recently announced breakthrough results for its ovarian cancer screening test, which achieved 77% sensitivity at 99.6% specificity and detected all stage 1 and 2 ovarian cancers with no missed diagnoses in a case-control study.
