Ferring Pharmaceuticals has announced that the novel gene therapy for bladder cancer developed by its sister company FinVector Oy has been approved by FDA. FinVector Oy has developed gene medicines in Kuopio for 30 years, and the development of gene therapy for bladder cancer was also already started in the 1990s.
Adstiladrin® (nadofaragene firadenovec-vncg) contains modified adenoviruses carrying a human gene that stimulates immune responses (IFNα). The medicine works by entering and killing cancer cells, which then further stimulates the patient’s own immune system to kill more cancer cells.