70% of cervical cancer cases are caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) and the traditional HPV vaccines are only useful to prevent, not to treat the infection. Genticel (GTCL) is developing a solution for those who had been previously infected with HPV, and for whom the vaccine would no longer be active, including most adult women carrying the cancerogenic HPV-virus. The company is developing innovative immunotherapies that will work by avoiding cancers that are caused by HPV. They are focusing specifically on preventing cervical cancer by eliminating HPV infection. ProCervix, a therapeutic vaccine currently in the Phase 2 of clinical trials, aims at treating the infection before it turns into cancer. This is a first-in-class immunotherapeutic candidate and a potential blockbuster that could reach about 1 billion euro sales.
The French biotech company Genticel, founded by the Belgian Benedikt Timmerman – former senior director R&D of Novartis Seeds is currently expanding beyond Europe. To obtain licensing revenue from other applications and to increase the visibility for their technology platform on the international market, Genticel has signed a partnership
