Imugene Ltd (ASX:IMU) has received a research and development (R&D) tax refund of $4.13 million as part of the Australian government’s R&D tax incentive.
This incentive recognises the important immuno-oncology research activities undertaken by Imugene during the financial year ended June 30 2019.
The receipt of the $4.13 million in additional funding will further Imugene’s commercial and clinical milestones.
Phase 1 oncolytic virus technology clinical trials
Imugene is advancing its preliminary clinical development plan (CDP) for the proposed exclusive license of the patents covering the CF33 oncolytic virus technology.
The CF33 oncolytic virus (OV) was developed in the lab of Professor Yuman Fong, an internationally recognised surgeon and scientist at City of Hope, a world-renowned independent research and treatment centre for cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases based in California.
CF33 has been developed in two different constructs: one version of the OV is armed with an immune checkpoint inhibitor inserted in the virus, which is known as CheckVacc; and the other an unarmed construct, known as Vaxinia.
It is planned by Imugene that two separate Phase 1 clinical trials will be conducted in 2020 to test a CheckVacc construct and a Vaxinia construct of the OV.