FIT Biotech Oyj Plc is the recipient of Frost & Sullivan's 2004 European Excellence in Technology Award in the field of gene therapy and DNA delivery. The award recognises the Finland-based company's efforts to develop innovative vaccines and gene therapies based on its proprietary gene delivery technology platform - the Gene Transport Unit (GTU(r)).
"Significantly, GTU technology is applicable to DNA vaccination as well as to immuno and gene therapies for the modulation of the immune system via antigens or cytokines for use in the treatment of infectious diseases, cancer and allergies," notes Frost & Sullivan Analyst Rajaram Sankaran.
"The technology could also be used in the expression of specific genes in order to complement a genetic defect. This is useful in the therapy of diseases caused by mutations in a single gene such as Parkinson's disease or many dermatological disorders," he adds.
Leveraging its GTU technology platform, FIT Biotech has built a strong product pipeline that comprises a therapeutic HIV vaccine, a preventive HIV vaccine, as well as vaccines for melanoma, diabetes and hepatitis C. FIT Biotech's HIV vaccine programs have already progressed to the Phase I/II stage.
FIT Biotech has also built an impressive intellectual property portfolio and has filed numerous international patents for its technology and the applications based on it, including novel vectors (GTU), medical devices (device and gene therapy), self-replicating vectors for DNA immunisation against HIV, AIRE (immunological mechanisms) and DNMT3L (immune diseases, new genes).
In conjunction with BD Technologies (a unit of Becton, Dickinson and Company), FIT Biotech is working on the development and delivery of HIV vaccines. A joint Phase I/II multi-centre clinical trial combines FIT Biotech's GTU-MultiHIV (investigational) vaccine with BD's disposable intradermal delivery device.
As part of a current public-private research partnership with the non-profit organisation International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), FIT Biotech is testing the GTU-MultiHIV vaccine in human trials in Finland. Such early trials, should they prove successful, could set the stage for more large-scale tests and focus attention on a vaccine that has the potential to protect uninfected people from contracting the HI virus.