M2N said it has established MGFB, a joint venture between Greenfire Bio (GFB), a U.S. affiliate of M2N and the Mayo Clinic, to jointly research and develop a solid cancer treatment using an anticancer vaccine.

Through MGFB, the two parties plan to research an anticancer vaccine, under development by Mayo Clinic's immunology professor, Dr. Richard Vile.

Vile is developing an anticancer vaccine technology based on a viral genetic engineering platform, which uses a mechanism to prevent cancer cells by blocking the evasion immune monitoring mechanism of cancer cells toward existing anticancer drugs and enhancing the therapeutic effect.

By combining the Mayo Clinic's vaccine with an existing anticancer drug, M2N expects that it will become possible to solve the limitations of existing anticancer drugs and induce a continuous response.

According to M2N, the vaccine technology has already demonstrated a sustained response to melanoma and brain tumors in preclinical studies.

MGFB plans to advance several programs into clinical trials to address indications that currently have limited treatment options.

"Since the technology can be applied to various cancer types, we expect the commercialization potential will be high depending on the future development results," an M2N official said. "The indications MGFB targets are glioblastoma, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, and melanoma."

Greenfire Bio (GFB) is a 50-50 joint venture between M2N and Ajit Singh Gill, the founder of Nasdaq-listed company Nektar Therapeutics. The company has a pipeline of four cancer drugs that are being evaluated for seven indications, including ovarian cancer and triple-negative breast cancer.