The technology is based on a vaccinia virus which carries immunostimulatory genes. The technology has been developed by Takashi NAKAMURA at Tottori University, and Astellas has taken a worldwide exclusive license agrement. Astellas owns already ASP 8374/PTZ-201, immunity checkpoint inhibitor which introduced from Potenza Therapeutics, Inc.. ASP 8374/PTZ-201 is an antagonist against T-cell immunoreceptors with Ig and ITIM domains (TIGIT) expressed in T cells and natural killer cells.
Astellas news release, March 6, 2018
Astellas develops gene therapy based on oncolytic virus