Gaeta Therapeutics was founded by the University of Zurich in 2017 as a vehicle for the commercialisation of its immuno-oncology patent estate, relating to the use of Interleukin-12 (IL-12) in combination with checkpoint blockers in the treatment of cancer.
Whilst checkpoint blockade has had considerable clinical and commercial success, monotherapy remains unsuccessful in the majority of cancer types and patients. Local delivery or expression of IL-12 increases tumour immunogenicity, which is then amenable to treatment. The synergy between IL-12 and checkpoint blockade has been shown to permit the treatment of cancer types and patient groups, which have hitherto been non-responsive to conventional immunotherapy.