Ian Fleming's fictional British secret agent James Bond (a.k.a. "007") possesses a "license to kill" his enemies.
Dr. William Wold seeks a similar metaphoric license for his adenovirus vector, VRX-007, to kill a common enemy of humans ... cancer. The gene-therapy weapon's numeric designation is not just coincidental, according to Wold.
"It was the seventh adenovirus vector (i.e. modified virus) we have developed and it is our hope that this particular adenovirus, or another similarly modified vector, will eventually lead to the development of a new gene-based therapy to help fight cancer in humans," says the veteran scientist.
Wold chairs the molecular microbiology and immunology department at Saint Louis University's School of Medicine and also heads the commercial high-technology firm VirRx, Inc. He has devoted the past 27 years of his professional career to researching and understanding the adenovirus.
"Adenovirus provides a very interesting model for molecular biologists because it gives an insight into cancer development," Wold explains. The virus is isolated from human adenoids - lymphatic tissue located behind the nose in the upper part of the throat.
"It causes mild ... upper respiratory tract infections in young children, resulting in lifelong immunity," according information on the VirRx Web site (www.virrx.com). "Using genetic engineering methods, VirRx scientists have modified some of the adenovirus genes such that the virus will attack only cancer cells in the body."
Tests to address the safety and effectiveness of the adenovirus vector therapy on humans will be the next step in a long line of research efforts by the VirRx team. Such trials could begin within a year or so, pending approval by the federal Food and Drug Administration, says the scientist and entrepreneur.
Wold and his research group started to construct their first adenovirus vector in 1996, building on Wold's previous research and that of other researchers in the field. This started his team down the long, expensive road to potential anti-cancer drug development.
Initially much of the research costs was covered by grants awarded from the National Institutes of Health. However, within three years Wold realized other sources needed to be tapped. Consequently in 1999, he formed VirRx, LLC, a commercial venture from which he could apply for Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) awards from other federal sources.
Two years later Wold incorporated his business. This move enabled him to ally his company with a much larger and well-financed pharmaceutical-research firm, Austin, Texas-based Introgen Therapeutics, Inc.
A series of SBIR-STTR awards has been sufficient to fund the levels of research VirRx has conducted since 1999. "But eventually when hundreds of millions of dollars are needed to back the years of sophisticated human-trial research yet to come, VirRx will need the financial resources available through the partnership we have with Introgen," notes Wold.
During the six-year-long phase of SBIR-STTR funding for VirRx, Wold met Wayne Harvey, a St. Louis-based high-tech start-up funding expert with the Missouri Federal and State Technology Partnership (MoFAST) program, an initiative of the University of Missouri Extension's Small Business and Technology Development Centers (MO SBTDC).
Since meeting in 2002, Harvey and Wold have occasionally worked together to help familiarize would-be high technology entrepreneurs about the ins and outs of SBIR-STTR funding. Wold has addressed students in some of Harvey's introductory classes, and Harvey can offer his expertise in the funding arena if and when Wold's venture needs another point of view on its funding applications.
And because of the firm's impressive progress thus far and its potential for even greater achievements in the coming years, VirRx will represent MO SBTDC at the second annual Client Showcase and Legislative Breakfast Thursday, Feb. 9, in the State Capitol Rotunda in Jefferson City.
At that event hosted by MO SBTDC, VirRx and more than a dozen other outstanding Missouri companies will meet with legislators to discuss their products and services. They also will be recognized for their contributions to the economic development of the state of Missouri. Recognition from MO SBTDC will be accompanied by legislative resolutions presented by each company's district state senator and state representative.
For more information on the services of the MoFAST program, call Harvey at 314-631-5509 or e-mail him at harveryw@missouri.edu
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