KNOXVILLE, TN, Nov. 06, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Provectus (OTCQB: PVCT) today announced that preclinical data from ongoing research on the potential use of investigational cancer immunotherapy PV-10 (rose bengal sodium) as an adjuvant in vaccines to help them work better was the subject of a poster presentation at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 2023 annual meeting, which was held in San Diego, CA from November 1-5. This research has been led by Aru Narendran, MD, PhD and his lab team from the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada.
A copy of the SITC poster, titled “The iodinated fluorescein derivative PV-10 enhances the antiviral activity of CD8+ T-Cells by inducing STING dimerization: Implications for enhanced vaccine applications,” is available on Provectus’s website at https://www.provectusbio.com/media/docs/2023-SITC-poster.pdf.
Dr. Narendran and his colleagues previously discovered that PV-10 activated stimulator of interferon (IFN) genes (STING), demonstrating its potential as a vaccine adjuvant in PV-10-mediated systemic anti-tumor immune responses. See Thakur et al., American Association for Cancer Research 2020 Virtual Annual Meeting II.
In its SITC work, the Narendran lab showed that PV-10 treatment induced STING activation, upregulated cytokines and chemokines, and increased IFN-γ secretion by CD8+ T-cells. Dr. Narendran and his colleagues demonstrated PV-10’s ability to function as an effective adjuvant to enhance T-cell responses and concluded that PV-10’s unique modulation of the STING pathway was a potential mechanism of this activity.
Dominic Rodrigues, Vice Chair of Provectus’s Board of Directors, said “This novel work introduces the potential of PV-10 to be an effective, multi-purpose, vaccine adjuvant for the first time, and conveys the opportunity to potentially use PV-10 in anti-viral, anti-cancer, and possibly other vaccines for greater protection against disease by improving a person’s immune response to vaccination.”
Mr. Rodrigues added, “We remain grateful to Dr. Narendran and his lab team members for their many-sided research to elucidate PV-10’s various potential mechanisms and applications. Provectus’s preclinical and clinical data to date, which may indicate that the response to PV-10 treatment is tantamount to in situ vaccination, may also suggest that PV-10-adjuvanted vaccines could potentially contribute to more effective and durable immune responses, better responses from patient populations with unique characteristics, higher efficacy using less antigen, and making vaccines more accessible, sustainable, and affordable.”
About Provectus
Provectus Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (Provectus or the Company) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing immunotherapy medicines for different diseases that are based on a class of synthetic small molecule immuno-catalysts called halogenated xanthenes (HXs). Provectus’s lead HX molecule is named rose bengal sodium (RBS).
The Company’s proprietary, patented, pharmaceutical-grade RBS is the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) in the drug product candidates of Provectus’s clinical development programs and preclinical formulations of the Company’s drug discovery programs. Provectus’s pharmaceutical-grade RBS displays different therapeutic effects at different concentrations and can be formulated for delivery by different routes of administration. The International Nonproprietary Names Expert Committee of the World Health Organization selected “rose bengal sodium” for the nonproprietary name of the Company’s API.
RBS may target disease in a bifunctional manner. Direct contact may lead to cell death or repair depending on the disease being treated and the concentration of Provectus’s RBS utilized in the treatment. Multivariate immune signaling, activation, and response may follow that may manifest as stimulatory, inhibitory, or both.
The Company believes that it is the first entity to advance an RBS formulation into clinical trials for the treatment of a disease. Provectus believes that it is the first and only entity to date to make pharmaceutical-grade RBS successfully, reproducibly, and consistently at a purity of nearly 100%.
Provectus’s small molecule HX medical science platform includes clinical development programs in oncology, dermatology, and ophthalmology; proof-of-concept in vivo development programs in oncology, hematology, wound healing, and animal health; and in vitro drug discovery programs in infectious diseases and tissue regeneration and repair.
Information about the Company’s clinical trials can be found at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) registry, ClinicalTrials.gov. For additional information about Provectus, please visit the Company’s website at www.provectusbio.com.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: The information in this press release may include “forward-looking statements,” within the meaning of U.S. securities legislation, relating to the business of Provectus and its affiliates, which are based on the opinions and estimates of Company management and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as “seek,” “anticipate,” “budget,” “plan,” “continue,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “may,” “will,” “project,” “predict,” “potential,” “targeting,” “intend,” “could,” “might,” “should,” “believe,” and similar words suggesting future outcomes or statements regarding an outlook.
The safety and efficacy of the agents and/or uses under investigation have not been established. There is no guarantee that the agents will receive health authority approval or become commercially available in any country for the uses being investigated or that such agents as products will achieve any particular revenue levels.
Due to the risks, uncertainties, and assumptions inherent in forward-looking statements, readers should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof or as of the date specifically specified herein, and Provectus undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.
Risks, uncertainties, and assumptions include those discussed in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including those described in Item 1A of:
- The Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2022, and
- Provectus’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2023.
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Contact:
Provectus Biopharmaceuticals, Inc.
Heather Raines, CPA
Chief Financial Officer
Phone: (866) 594-5999
