Going Viral to Fight Brain Cancer

Recurrent high-grade glioblastoma is a rare and aggressive brain tumor, which today is generally treated with surgery and chemotherapy. Outcomes are poor, with survival ranging from three to nine months and five-year survival rates less than 10 percent. Candel Therapeutics is developing viral immunotherapies that both kill tumor cells directly and enlist the patient’s own immune system in the fight against cancer. It’s experimental therapy CAN-3110 uses a modified herpes simplex virus that carries a viral gene that is designed to allow the virus to replicate in tumor cells while avoiding healthy cells. We spoke to Paul Peter Tak, president and CEO of Candel, about its viral immunotherapy, how it works, and what clinical studies have shown to date.