Novartis (NYSE:NVS), Harvard University and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute are teaming up to develop the next generation of implantable and injectable biomaterials designed to delivery immunotherapies, the group reported today.
Researchers from Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have worked for years to create systems that provide targeted, sustained delivery of immuno-oncology products. Now, Novartis plans to collaborate and investigate the use of these systems with the company’s portfolio of immunotherapies.
“Our collaborators have combined the fields of immuno-oncology and material science to develop novel platforms for delivering immunotherapies to combat cancer,” Jay Bradner, president of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, said in prepared remarks. “We look forward to collaborating with the Wyss Institute to further develop this technology in conjunction with our growing immunotherapy portfolio.”
The implantable and injectable technologies, which are owned or co-owned by Harvard, Dana-Farber and the University of Michigan, are composed of biodegradable materials that assemble into three-dimensional structures. In preclinical work, these porous systems have helped trigger immune responses against tumors.
