Eurofins Viracor BioPharma
Immunotherapy Force Multiplier
It was October 2015 when the US immunotherapy market was celebrating its first-ever FDA-approved oncolytic virus therapy, talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC). Developed by Amgen, this new genre of immunotherapy demonstrated immense efficacy in treating advanced melanoma. But being an early bird in the industry, there were severe concerns regarding the biodistribution and viral shedding from the safety perspective. Additionally, it faced challenges in the trials in terms of the sample types and volumes needed for the testing. Functioning behind the scenes here, in facilitating the launching of T-VEC and navigating through the complexities, was the US-based company, Eurofins Viracor BioPharma, an integrated arm of Eurofins that offered its laboratory services to Amgen for assays development and testing.
They executed both efficacy and safety type testing to mitigate the prevailing challenges and significantly enhanced the ability to interpret clinical data from the research. “The combination of services that we provided was instrumental to Amgen’s T-VEC clinical trial and ultimately contributed in its approval as the first oncolytic virus therapy in US,” mentions Scott Mattivi, President of Eurofins Viracor BioPharma