Developing first-in-class RNAi therapeutics for hard-to-treat cancers

Cancer kills 164,000 people in UK every year, with incidence expected to rise. Late-stage cancers with worst prognoses are especially prominent in vulnerable populations: those from diverse/poor socio-economic backgrounds, and those with delayed diagnosis due to Covid-19.

Existing therapies become inefficient due to tumour heterogeneity, mutational burden and microenvironment. Tumours become resistant due to drug overdose. Chemotherapy is brutal on healthy cells causing high adverse-events and metastatic-recurrence. Only 15% of patients whose tumours express the necessary biomarkers are eligible for approved therapeutics towards immune-checkpoint inhibitors and anti-angiogenesis.

Solid tumours such as breast, lung and colorectal cancers are notoriously hostile to CAR-T cell treatments.

There is a need for therapies against novel targets from alternative signalling pathways to solve this problem.
We propose a game-changing approach to cure hard-to-treat cancers: Translating a research gene editing tool into a first-in-class therapeutic RNAi platform, in combination with Oncolytic Virus ((non-lytic)Newcastle Disease Virus) for delivery.