Imugene Ltd (ASX:IMU, OTC:IUGNF) has received a cash boost in the form of a A$6.54 million R&D tax incentive.
IMU has received the tax refund as part of the Australian government’s R&D tax incentive, which recognises the important immuno-oncology research activities undertaken by Imugene during the financial year ended June 30, 2021.
The Australian government’s R&D tax incentive encourages companies to engage in R&D programs by providing a refundable tax offset of up to 43.5% for eligible activities.
These funds will support the immuno-oncology company’s commercial and clinical milestones, several of which it has ticked off in the last few weeks.
IMU continues to hit milestones
Imugene ended the year on a milestone high and looks to be continuing the momentum.
Just yesterday, the company announced that it has secured a patent for its HER-Vaxx immunotherapy candidate in South Korea.
Read: Imugene secures patent for HER-Vaxx immunotherapy candidate in South Korea
This follows HER-Vaxx immunotherapy being patent protected in China until 2036.
Read: Imugene granted patent protection in China until 2036
In December, IMU also obtained US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) consent for clinical trials, securing Investigational New Drug (IND) approval to initiate a Phase I clinical trial for oncolytic virotherapy candidate VAXINIA (CF33-hNIS, HOV2) and a Phase II trial of immunotherapy candidate HER-Vaxx.
Read: Imugene secures FDA approval for two clinical trials of promising oncology drug candidates
On the development front, just a month ago IMU dosed its second patient using using the CHECKvacc drug candidate against metastatic, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). IMU’s trial is testing the safety and efficacy of an oncolytic viruses candidate, designed to both selectively kill tumour cells and activate the immune system against cancer cells.
Read: Imugene doses second patient in CHECKvacc study
Just two days ago, IMU completed Phase 1a monotherapy dose escalation of PD1-Vaxx and announced that it would proceed to combination dose escalation.