About 57 people are diagnosed with breast cancer every day in Australia, with instances having grown over the past decade. New and improved treatments are crucial, and to address that, Australian diagnostics company INOVIQ (ASX: IIQ) has developed a special exosome therapy that can target and kill breast cancer cells in lab tests.

The Company has produced and isolated engineered exosomes (EEVs) that target and kill breast cancer cells in vitro, i.e. outside a living organism. In a proof-of-concept study, a breast cancer-targeting protein (a chimeric antigen receptor, CAR) was expressed in exosomes released by immune cells. 

The modified exosomes were isolated and concentrated from immune cell-conditioned media using INOVIQ’s proprietary EXO-ACE technology. EXO-ACE recovered more than 80% of exosomes from cell-conditioned media with over 95% purity. When treated with these exosomes, 75% of breast cancer cells underwent cell death within 72 hours. 

Based on these results, INOVIQ will progress its exosome therapeutics program, initially focusing on immune-cell-derived exosome therapeutics for metastatic breast and ovarian cancers. 

CEO Leearne Hinch said, “INOVIQ has established core capabilities in-house to engineer, load and produce exosomes for therapeutic applications. These data highlight the potential of immune-cell derived exosomes as an effective cancer therapy and the potential for RNA drug-loaded exosome therapeutics. 

“The Company is scaling its exosome production capacity using its EXO-ACE technology to isolate exosomes and advancing its immune cell-derived exosome program towards key preclinical in vitro and in vivo milestones for cancer starting in CY24.”

Hinch added, “Preclinical in vivo data are expected to support discussions with pharmaceutical companies for potential partnered exosome therapeutic opportunities.”

INOVIQ is a biotechnology company developing diagnostics and therapeutics for cancer. The Company has commercialised its EXO-NET exosome isolation technology for biomarker discovery, diagnostics development and the hTERT test as an adjunct for bladder cancer. 

Besides its progress with breast cancer, INOVIQ recently completed an analytical validation study for its blood test for ovarian cancer. Overall, the test correctly identified 85% of all samples tested (76% of the cancer samples and 94% of the cancer-free samples).

INOVIQ’s exosome therapeutic program has shown promising proof-of-concept data. The program involves engineering CARs to enable targeted delivery of therapeutic exosome-enclosed vesicles (EEVs) to cancer cells and loading tumour-suppressing mRNA into exosomes for RNA-based therapies.

Chairman David Willams said, “I see enormous potential in INOVIQ’s exosome platform given its established best-in-class, revenue-generating research tools, exosome diagnostics pipeline for cancer screening and therapeutic selection and expansion into high-value exosome therapeutics for cancer.” 

In Q3 FY24, INOVIQ’s cash balance stood at $4.51m as of March 31, 2024. It reported $119k of customer receipts during the quarter, down from the December quarter’s $188k, and received $64k of bank interest.

The breast cancer treatment data indicates that exosomes can be engineered and loaded with drug cargo, such as RNA therapeutics, to cross the blood-brain barrier and target neurological diseases effectively. This positive outcome paves the way for commercialisation opportunities.