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After $10 million in research and product development into treating animals with cancer, officials with Tampa-based biotech firm Morphogenesis believe the firm is on the verge of what could be a big breakthrough: Adding a line of immunotherapy-based cancer treatments for humans, particularly people with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and melanoma.
A just-as-big obstacle: getting capital to fund trials and more research.
That's why the privately held firm recently announced plans to raise $20 million in a common stock offering for accredited investors. The capital raise, at $5 a share, is through the Federal JOBS Act, which allows companies to access a wider pool of investors quicker through online channels. With Morphogenesis that includes an interactive digital presentation with videos and animations.
“We think once we get the money to fund these projects, the market for this will go crazy,” Morphogenesis board member David Bergmann tells Coffee Talk. “This is huge.”
Morphogenesis has some proof of concept in its immunotherapy treatments through a subsidiary, Veterinary Oncology Services. That entity provides a personalized cancer vaccine, ImmuneFx, to veterinarians to provide treatment for 20 types of cancers in more than 60 breeds of dogs, cats and horses. Morphogenesis treated its first animal patient in May 2012, and has since worked with vets in California, Colorado, Arizona, Florida, Ohio, Connecticut, New York, Virginia and Texas. The firm has administered 3,000 animal doses in four years.
The core of Morphogenesis' treatments comes from cell and gene therapy, what company founder and CEO Patricia Lawman calls the epitome of biotech, using the intelligence of the body to fight cancers. In practice that means the company finds ways to genetically engineer tumor cells to trigger an immune response from the body without damaging normal cells or tissues.
Lawman and other Morphogenesis officials hope to prove that treatment will work not only in people with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and melanoma, but, eventually patients with pancreatic and breast cancer. The $20 million will go toward research and development in those areas, in addition to funding new advances in the vaccine for the veterinary market.
“Morphogenesis has something really unique,” says Bergmann. “This is special because this has been proven in the veterinary world.”
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