Morphogenesis Gets Closer to a Cancer Vaccine

UF Startup and Sid Martin graduate company Morphogenesis, says it is getting closer to a shot that would treat some skin cancers.

Morphogenesis‘ new CEO, James Bianco, told Axios he expects to get fast-track approval from the Food and Drug Administration for the company’s therapeutic vaccine to treat certain types of skin cancer.

The company’s ImmuneFx vaccine uses plasmid DNA to activate new white blood cells in the body that attach to tumors, making them impossible for the immune system to ignore. Morphogenesis grows the plasmid DNA inside bacteria at its Tampa lab. Then scientists purify and test the DNA before packing it into vials.

The results look so encouraging, Bianco says, that the company just extended enrollment for trials with the vaccine at Tampa’s Moffit Cancer Center, the University of Southern California and Harvard’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

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