A. Company Profile

Oncolytics (NASDAQ:ONCY) focuses on exploring the oncolytic capability of the reovirus, which is employed to kill human cancer cells.

B. Products

Product Pipelines

Product

Indication

Clinical Status

Reolysin

Bladder cancer, glioblastoma multiforme, head and neck tumours, lung cancer, melanoma, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, and prostate cancer

Phase I-II

1. Reolysin

Reolysin is a reovirus, named for the Respiratory Enteric Orphan virus. Reovirus is found naturally in sewage and the water supply. The majority of humans have shown evidence of reovirus exposure, but the disease is non-pathogenic, meaning there are typically no symptoms from infection. The link to its cancer-killing ability was established after it was discovered that the virus grew remarkably well in various cancer cell lines.

Reolysin has been demonstrated to replicate specifically in tumor cells bearing an activated Ras pathway. Activating mutations of Ras and upstream elements of Ras may play a role in greater than two thirds of all human cancers. Reolysin represents a novel treatment for Ras activated tumour cells.

Tumors bearing an activated Ras pathway are deficient in their ability to activate the anti-viral response mediated by the host cellular protein, PKR. Since PKR is responsible for preventing reovirus replication, tumor cells lacking the activity of PKR are susceptible to reovirus infections. As normal cells do not possess Ras activations, these cells are able to stop reovirus infection through normal PKR activity. In a tumor cells with an activated Ras pathway, reovirus is able to freely replicate and eventually kill the host tumor cells. As cell death occurs, progeny viruses are then free to infect surrounding cancer cells. This cycle of infection, replication and cell death is believed to be repeated until there are no longer any tumor cells carrying an activated Ras pathway.