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Bernard A. Fox: UbiVac Seeks Support and Partners to Bring DPV-001 Immunotherapy to Pediatric Cancer Trials

Chiles Research Institute/X

Mar 31, 2025, 18:27

Bernard A. Fox: UbiVac Seeks Support and Partners to Bring DPV-001 Immunotherapy to Pediatric Cancer Trials

Bernard A. Fox, Co-Founder, President, and CEO of UbiVac, shared a post on LinkedIn:

“Fulfilling my Promise to a Child Dying of Cancer.

Following up on OncoDaily‘s post-of my “Gage’s Guardian” T shirt post and promise to Gage Dole, that I would generate a trial for pediatric cancer patients. That commitment is 15 years old, and while I have promising evidence that the immunotherapy we developed is working in adults, I still need a partner or two to get this into children.

About a decade ago, while serving on the American Cancer Society’s Council for Extramural Grants, I discussed with Prof. John M. Cunningham the possibility of extending a promising immunotherapy we had developed at Earle A. Chiles Research Institute—one that stimulated anti-cancer immunity in patients with lung and prostate cancer—to pediatric patients at the University of Chicago. Unfortunately, funding challenges and the onset of COVID significantly delayed progress towards that goal.

Today, after treating 18 patients, that very treatment—DPV-001—when combined with anti-PD-1 from Incyte, has demonstrated a threefold increase in response rates compared to anti-PD-1 alone in patients with recurrent or metastatic HNSCC.

Why is DPV-001 proving so much more effective?

Addressing the Immune Deficiency Gap: Many patients lack an anti-cancer immune response, which is why anti-PD-1 therapy alone often fails—it removes the checkpoint blockade but cannot activate a response that isn’t there.

Broad Antigen Targeting: DPV-001 contains over 300 proteins derived from genes overexpressed in cancer, triggering or enhancing immune responses against a wide range of cancer antigens in most patients.

Multi-Layered Immune Stimulation: The formulation includes five immune stimulants (TLR/NOD agonists) and 15 molecular chaperones (DAMPs), all designed to support a robust anti-cancer immune response.

Targeting the Dark Genome: Recent findings reveal that DPV-001 also includes proteins from cancer’s dark genome—some of which may have driver-like functions. At AAI2025, we will present evidence of a patient who initially lacked a response to a specific dark antigen. While on DPV-001, they developed a T-cell response to this antigen, which was expressed on their cancer cells. A TCR isolated from this patient successfully recognized both the dark antigen and the patient’s cancer cells. Remarkably, this patient remains alive 10 years post-treatment, suggesting that targeting dark antigens is both feasible and potentially life-extending.

A First-in-Class Immunotherapy: DPV-001 is a groundbreaking “off-the-shelf” immunotherapy that provides at least 10 times more antigens than vaccine strategies employed by Moderna or BioNTech SE. Unlike personalized vaccines that require 4-8 weeks for production, DPV-001 is ready for immediate administration—accelerating treatment and potentially enhancing patient outcomes. UbiVac is seeking support and partners to help us move this promising 1st-in-class drug into a trial for children with solid tumors.”

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