Dispatch Bio has officially launched with a stated mission to engineer a universal treatment across solid tumours. 

Immunotherapies have struggled to effectively treat solid tumours due to the lack of a tumour-specific target and the presence of an immune-suppressive tumour microenvironment.  

Dispatch’s Flare platform has been engineered to overcome these. It works by delivering a viral vector carrying a novel, universal antigen – called Flare – that tags solid tumour cells while simultaneously breaking down the tumour’s inhibitory environment. 

Once in place, according to the company, the Flare antigen acts as a beacon, directing the immune system to find and clear the cancer cells — without harming healthy tissue.

“At Dispatch, we are leveraging the ideal tumour target – one that is only expressed by the tumour cells in a patient – and advances in cell therapy engineering and immune system activation at the right place, at the right time, to get to deep and durable responses in cancer,” said Sabah Oney, Chief Executive Officer of Dispatch.  

“We’ve built a strong scientific foundation, assembled an exceptional team and developed innovative technology that give us a real shot at making a difference.” 

Dispatch was established through a collaboration with the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI) and convergence of technologies from the laboratories of Andy Minn, Carl June, Chris Garcia, and Kole Roybal. 

“With this confluence of innovative technologies from the labs across PICI, we are poised to shift how cancer therapies are conceived,” said Sean Parker, Founder and Chairman of PICI, as well as a member of Dispatch’s board of directors. “We can now pursue the ultimate goal – a universal cure for most solid tumour cancers – using cutting-edge modalities.” 

Dispatch has raised a total of $216 million to date, including a recently closed Series A financing.

Diana Turner, Senior Digital Content Editor, DDW