Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - A major biotech firm is partnering with a Rochester company to advance a promising cancer therapy developed by Mayo researchers.

Vyriad has announced a new research collaboration with Regeneron, a major U.S. biotech company with over $6 billion in annual revenue. The agreement provides the Rochester firm with capital to speed up the development of new cancer-killing virus-based treatments for a variety of cancers.

Vyriad says it will be adding 20 to 25 employees to its workforce in Rochester over the next year for a Phase 2 clinical study into the effectiveness of its Voyager-V1 virus. The five-year collaboration with Regeneron will involve combining Vyriad’s technology with a protein inhibitor product being developed by the pharmaceutical firm to combat melanoma, lung, liver and other cancers.

Vyriad CEO Dr. Stephen Russell was in the News-Talk 1340 KROC-AM and 96.9 FM studio Friday morning for the Rochester Today Show with Andy Brownell and James Rabe to discuss the future of the company and its potentially miraculous product. 

Vyriad was founded six years ago by a group of Mayo Clinic researchers and is located at the former IBM campus in northwest Rochester. CEO Dr. Stephen Russell made international headlines when he spearheaded an experimental treatment using a form of the measles virus. A Brainerd woman with terminal cancer and no treatment options was given a massive injection of the virus and remains cancer-free six years later.

 

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