Future ProductsTumor-Specific Drug Production and TherapyTherapeutic AntibodiesIn recent years, use of immunotherapy in the fight against cancer has become more widespread, particularly in the application of monoclonal antibodies. Such antibodies can serve therapeutic purposes, which enhance anti-tumor therapy. One example is Avastin (Genentech's anti-angiogenesis drug) which seeks to inhibit the formation of blood vessels around the tumor, effectively "starving" the tumor and stunting its growth. However, many such antibodies cannot efficiently penetrate tumors, ultimately limiting their effectiveness even when patients are given extremely costly high doses. A recently-published manuscript in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, demonstrates that the Genelux oncolytic virus platform successfully "carried" an engineered single-chain "Avastin-like" antibody (GLAF-1) to human pancreatic cancer xenografts with significantly enhanced therapeutic effects over treatment with virus alone or antibody (Avastin) in a single dose (shown below). This approach could point to an exciting new therapeutic concept: tumor-specific, locally "manufactured" anti-cancer therapy in humans. 
Eradication of pancreatic tumors using the combination of vaccinia virus and therapeutic antibodies |