Michael Engsig, CEO of Oslo, Norway-based Vaccibody AS, said the company’s deal with Roche Holding AG lets his firm “fully set in motion” the plan to explore infectious diseases as well as cancer, and Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) Agnete Fredriksen pointed out that “an exceptional cross-functional team” has been put in place to get the job done. Vaccibody signed the new contract with Basel, Switzerland-based Roche’s Genentech arm to develop and sell DNA-based individualized neoantigen vaccines for cancers. The tie-up brings as much as $715 million for Vaccibody.
Unraveling the eagerly awaited data from Genocea Biosciences Inc.’s phase I/IIa study with neoantigen cancer vaccine GEN-009 turned out less than simple, and the rollout of results – characterized by the company as positive, albeit early – were followed by a haircut for shares (NASDAQ:GNCA), which closed at $3.45, down $1.52, or 31%.