ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Agilvax, Inc., a biotechnology company developing novel cancer immunotherapies and vaccines, announced today that it is now a resident company at Johnson & Johnson Innovation JLABS (JLABS @ TMC) at the renowned Texas Medical Center—the world’s largest cancer center—located in Houston, Texas.
Agilvax will utilize JLABS @ TMC facilities to support the development of the company’s lead cancer immunotherapy candidate, AX09, for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer, as well as additional pipeline programs.
Agilvax’s CEO, Dr. Federica Pericle, stated, “We are honored and excited to be a resident company at JLABS @ TMC and join the growing biotechnology hub in Houston. Agilvax’s novel immunotherapy technology is a great fit for the Houston ecosystem where ground-breaking cancer research is occurring.”
JLABS @ TMC is a 34,000-square-foot life science innovation center, located in Houston, Texas. The labs provide a flexible environment for start-up companies pursuing new technologies and research platforms to advance medical care. Through a "no strings attached" model, Johnson & Johnson Innovation (JJI) does not take an equity stake in the companies occupying JLABS and the companies are free to develop products - either on their own, or by initiating a separate external partnership with JJI or any other company.
About Agilvax
Agilvax discovers and develops targeted cancer immunotherapies and vaccines with its proprietary virus-like particle (VLP) platform technology. Agilvax’s lead product, AX09, is being developed as an immunotherapy for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) by targeting cancer stem cells. TNBC has a high frequency of cancer stem cells, which play a critical role in the high rates of recurrence and poor outcomes in TNBC as compared with other forms of breast cancer. The company’s pipeline and drug discovery platform are based on VLPs derived from RNA bacteriophage that have been engineered to display antigens in an ordered geometric pattern, which can be utilized to stimulate robust and specific immune responses to both foreign pathogens and self-antigens. The Company was founded in 2011 and has headquarters in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and offices in El Paso, Texas.
