Dispatch Bio announced its official launch today, with a mission to engineer a universal treatment across solid tumors, which represent approximately 90% of cancers worldwide.
Immunotherapies have struggled to effectively treat solid tumors due to two main challenges: the lack of a tumor-specific target and the presence of an immune-suppressive tumor microenvironment. Dispatch’s first-in-class Flare platform was specifically engineered to overcome both. It works by delivering a viral vector carrying a novel, universal antigen – called Flare – that precisely tags solid tumor cells while simultaneously breaking down the tumor’s inhibitory environment. Once in place, the Flare antigen acts as a beacon, directing the immune system to find and clear the cancer cells — without harming healthy tissue.
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“At Dispatch, we are leveraging the ideal tumor target – one that is only expressed by the tumor cells in a patient – and advances in cell therapy engineering and immune system activation at the right place, at the right time, to get to deep and durable responses in cancer,” said Sabah Oney, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Dispatch. “This work matters deeply to me, as it does to so many whose lives have been touched by cancer. We’ve built a strong scientific foundation, assembled an exceptional team and developed innovative technology that give us a real shot at making a difference. We are fully committed to doing everything we can for patients who urgently need new options.”
Dispatch was established through a pivotal collaboration with the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI) and convergence of groundbreaking technologies from the laboratories of Andy Minn, M.D., Ph.D.; Carl June, M.D.; Chris Garcia, Ph.D.; and Kole Roybal, Ph.D.
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“With this confluence of innovative technologies from the labs across PICI, we are poised to shift how cancer therapies are conceived,” said Sean Parker, founder and chairman of PICI, as well as a member of Dispatch’s board of directors. “We can now pursue the ultimate goal – a universal cure for most solid tumor cancers – using cutting-edge modalities.”
