Frederico

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) – cancer cells shed from tumors to the bloodstream – are some of the most studied liquid cancer biomarkers and offer enormous predictive and prognostic potential. But their rarity and heterogeneity as resulted in a plethora of isolation and detection methods aiming to expand their clinical utility. In a collaboration with […]

Our team is attending ESMO 2024 in Barcelona! VARCT Dx’s CSO, Mette Ørskov Agerbæk and VAR2 Pharma’s COO Frederico Pimenta will be there and are looking forward to catching up on the most recent developments in oncology. Come meet us at our poster #218P on Sunday to hear more about our latest work on using our first-in-class […]

The development of CTC-derived models specific to PDAC has remained challenging due to the limited number of CTCs retrieved from patients’ samples. In work led by our collaborators, we demonstrated that our proprietary recombinant VAR2CSA, which specifically binds oncofetal chondroitin sulfate, retrieved more live CTCs than single antibodies for traditional CTC biomarkers (EpCAM, CD7, or […]

After years of R&D efforts VAR2 Pharma is finally ready to present its novel proprietary cancer targeting antibodies. The antibodies targeting oncofetal chondroitin sulfate have demonstrated very high broad solid tumor specificity and preclinical PoC for antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) applications in different cancer disease models. These antibodies are also being deployed in the VarCT Diagnostics […]

VAR2 Pharma will attend the upcoming “Matrix Biology Europe (MBE)” conference held in Florence, Italy, September 28-30, 2022. The MBE represents one of the most relevant congresses showcasing novel research in extracellular biological polymers as well as their possible clinical and biotechnological applications. VAR2 Pharma will be represented by Industrial PhD student Elena Vidal-Calvo and […]

In this publication out today in Nature Communications, VarCT Diagnostics co-authors describe how oncofetal chondroitin sulfate is regulated in prostate cancer. The study reports that oncofetal CS is regulated (repressed) by the androgen receptor (AR). When prostate cancer progresses into aggressive AR-independent disease states, these tumors up-regulate oncofetal CS in the tumor via an enzyme […]

VarCT Diagnostics CEO, Dr. Ali Salanti, receives the preclinical Kirsten & Freddy Johansen Foundation (KFJ) Award for his life-long contribution to research. With the Award comes 2M DKK to continue the work on moving the preclinical assets forward to the patients at most need. Read more:https://healthsciences.ku.dk/newsfaculty-news/2022/06/that-is-when-i-realised-that-my-research-can-have-a-positive-effect-on-society/

Through a Distinguished Innovator grant from Novo Foundation to VAR2 Pharma collaborator, University of Copenhagen, the ofCS antibody program has been awarded 1M euro to finalize the preclinical development of the novel cancer targeting antibodies. The grant was partly awarded to promote public private partnerships and entrepreneurship at University of Copenhagen.

VarCT Diagnostics co-authors have published new work on how the VarCT Diagnostics’ rVAR2 proteins are internalized into tumor cells after binding to cell surface proteoglycans. The cell surface proteoglycan composition is important in the context of chondroitin sulfate detection and targeting strategies, currently in pre-clinical development phase. Read more:https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-07025-6

VarCT Diagnostics’ executive chairman and UBC professor Dr. Mads Daugaard has been awarded a 5-year grant from the CIHR to explore how chondroitin sulfate molecules are regulated during cancer progression. The result of this research project may help inform how best to deploy oncofetal chondroitin sulfate diagnostic technologies in solid tumor indications.