Technologies

DRibble™ Immunotherapy – DPV-001 Lead Agent

A New Paradigm in Cancer Treatment

A breakthrough approach in oncology is changing the way cancer is treated — one that works with the body’s own defense system to fight disease. Immunotherapy harnesses the power of the immune system to recognize and eliminate cancer cells, offering not just improved outcomes, but the potential for lasting cures.

How Immunotherapy Works

The immune system’s primary role is to maintain health and balance by identifying and destroying abnormal cells. Cancer occurs when certain cells evade this surveillance — either because the immune system doesn’t recognize them as a threat or because tumor cells use “checkpoints” to suppress immune attack.

Recent advances have led to the development of drugs that block these inhibitory checkpoints, effectively releasing the brakes on the immune system. Once activated, immune cells such as T-cells can target and destroy cancer cells, restoring the body’s natural equilibrium.

Introducing DRibble™ Immunotherapy (DPV-001)

Developed by UbiVac, DRibble™ immunotherapy represents a first-in-class cancer vaccine technology. It delivers a broad range of tumor antigens directly to the immune system to stimulate a powerful anti-cancer response.

The DRibble™ vaccine particles (DPV-001) contain:

  • 300+ proteins from genes overexpressed in most solid tumors

  • 400+ proteins from the “Dark Genome” (Dark Matter antigens)

  • Five immune stimulants (TLR/NOD agonists)

  • 15 Heat shock proteins and chaperones that enhance immune activation

These components are packaged into microscopic vesicles that specifically target dendritic cells — key immune educators that train T-cells, B-cells, and NK cells to recognize and destroy cancer throughout the body.

“Off-the-Shelf” Cancer Vaccine Potential

DPV-001 targets antigens commonly expressed across multiple cancer types, including:

  • Lung

  • Prostate

  • Breast

  • Colon

  • Stomach

  • Head and Neck

  • Pancreas

  • Brain / GBM

  • Ovarian

  • Cervical

  • Kidney

Because of its broad antigen coverage, DRibble™ immunotherapy has the potential to serve as an “off-the-shelf” therapeutic cancer vaccine for a wide range of patients.

How It’s Administered

The first vaccine is administered via ultrasound-guided injection directly into lymph nodes, where immune activation is most potent. Subsequent vaccines are administered intradermally. Once introduced, T-cells, B-cells, and NK cells become activated, multiply, and circulate throughout the body — actively seeking out and destroying cancer cells wherever they exist.

Clinical and Preclinical Success

DPV-001 has completed a U.S. National Cancer Institute–supported Phase I/II clinical trial as an adjuvant treatment for patients with definitively treated non–small cell lung cancer. Results demonstrated that the therapy was safe and capable of generating or enhancing immune responses to multiple cancer antigens.

In preclinical studies, combining DRibble™ immunotherapy with anti-OX40, or anti-GITR and anti-PD-1, led to remarkable increases in efficacy and durable responses — in some cases resulting in apparent cures (published in Scientific Reports).

This led to a phase Ib clinical trial for recurrent or metastatic HNSCC where combination immunotherapy with DPV-001 has tripled the response rate (RR) to 56% for PD-1 naïve patients and resulted in a 33% RR for PD-1 experienced patients. With two years of follow-up, DPV-001 combination immunotherapy has essentially doubled overall survival compared to standard-of-care pembrolizumab. (See Pipeline for updates).

DRibble Immunotherapy – for Rare Cancers and Cancers in Children:

UbiVac is also developing immunotherapies for rare cancers including anaplastic thyroid and Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC). Further, because one of the DPV immunotherapies contains a large number of antigens for pediatric brain tumors, UbiVac is looking for partners to initiate a combination immunotherapy trial for these patients.

 

DRibble Immunotherapy – to Intercept and Prevent Cancer:

In collaboration with major pharma partner, UbiVac has developed an immunotherapy that appears to delay cancer development and possibly prevent chemically-induced cancers in mice. UbiVac, in collaboration with partners is continuing to develop DPV-007 as an immunotherapy for patients with high-grade oral dysplasia that is likely to progress to oral cancer.