Skip to content

PATIENTS

Empower Your Immune System to Fight Cancer

We are working to save, extend, and improve the lives of patients through innovative viral immunotherapies that not only treat solid tumors and their metastases, but also provide lasting protection against cancer recurrence.

A happy senior couple at a park.

Treating Solid Tumors and Protecting Against Recurrence

Current solid tumor treatment strategies - surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy- often come at a  significant cost: patients face surgical risks and severe toxicity, and even after enduring these challenges, nearly 30% will see their cancer return. 

At Candel, we aim to deliver durable clinical benefit, from preventing recurrence in early-stage, curative-intent disease to extending survival in advanced cancer, while maintaining quality of life. Our immunotherapies are designed for precise delivery with robust systemic effects. Ultimately, we believe this may enable a broad and specific anti-tumor immune response, while limiting systemic toxicity that could impact a patient’s quality of life.

Our off-the-shelf viral immunotherapy candidates are designed to induce a long-lasting, completely individualized response, specific to the patient and their cancer. We invite you to learn more about our active clinical trials and to explore resources for these disease areas.

Candel Therapeutics’ Viral Immunotherapies

Target

Target and destroy cancer cells while preserving healthy cells

icn-immune-system

Train the body’s immune system to recognize your specific cancer

icn-shield

Activates immune cells to destroy metastatic tumors and protect against recurrence

Candel supports and learns from Patients, their Partners and leading Patient Advocacy Organization to inform our understanding of the priorities of the Patient Community.

Candel develops long term, trusting relationships with Patients and the Advocacy Community to ensure the Voice of the Patient is considered in all stages of development. 

How Patients Benefit:

icn-check
Individualized, systemic anti-tumor immune response
icn-check
Lasting protection that leverages the body’s own immune system to fight recurrence
icn-check
More specific than chemotherapy; fewer side effects, lower toxicity
icn-check
Improved quality of life
“

The patient is always our focal point. Our engineered viral immunotherapies are designed to have favorable benefit-to-risk profiles, providing effectiveness and well-tolerated treatments across disease stages.”

 Dr. Paul Peter Tak, President and CEO of Candel Therapeutics 

Candel Therapeutics Clinical Trials

Our viral immunotherapies undergo rigorous evaluation for safety and efficacy. Learn about participating in our active clinical trials and see the results from our completed phase III study early, localized for the treatment of prostate cancer.

Active Clinical Trials

Group 7866

Explore active clinical trials for the evaluation of our viral immunotherapy candidates, CAN-2409 and CAN-3110. 

Completed Clinical Trials

Group 7938

Explore active clinical trials for the evaluation of our viral immunotherapy candidates, CAN-2409 and CAN-3110. 

Clinical Trials

icn-prostate-cancer
Prostate Cancer
icn-lung-cancer
Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
icn-pancreatic-cancer
Pancreatic Cancer
icn-brain-caner
Brain Cancer

Explore clinical trials for the evaluation of our viral immunotherapy candidates, aglatimagene and linoserpaturev.

Aglatimagene has received FDA Fast Track Designation and Regenerative Medicine Advance Therapy (RMAT) Designation for localized prostate cancer.

FAQs

What is a viral immunotherapy and how is it different from other cancer treatments?

Viral immunotherapy uses genetically engineered viruses that are injected directly into tumors to help your immune system fight cancer. Unlike chemotherapy which kills cancer cells directly, or traditional immunotherapies that try to activate your immune system, Candel’s viral immunotherapies work by causing tumor cells to die in a way that “wakes up” your immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells — both in the injected tumor and in distant metastatic tumors throughout your body.

What does “off-the-shelf” but “individualized” mean?

Candel’s therapies are “off-the-shelf” because they don’t need to be custom-made for each patient—they’re ready to use. However, they produce an “individualized response” because once injected into your tumor, they help your own immune system learn to recognize your specific cancer’s unique characteristics, creating a personalized immune response tailored to your particular tumor.

How are these treatments given to patients?

The viral immunotherapies are injected directly into the tumor or target tissue, similar to how a vaccine is given. This localized injection approach is designed to minimize systemic side effects and reduce the chance of your body developing antibodies against the treatment, making it potentially better tolerated than treatments given throughout the whole body.

Why do many patients not respond to current immunotherapy treatments?

Typically, only 15-40% of patients respond to immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatments. This is believed to be because tumors can “hide” from the immune system and create an environment that suppresses immune activity. Additionally, most conventional immunotherapies aren’t designed to teach your immune system to recognize the wide variety of specific markers present on your tumor cells.

Can these treatments reach tumors that aren’t injected?

Yes. While the viral immunotherapy is injected into one tumor site, it’s designed to trigger a system-wide immune response. This means the immune cells generated by the treatment can travel through your body to find and attack cancer cells in distant, uninjected tumors. 

How safe are these treatments? Have they been tested in patients?

Candel Therapeutics’ aglatimagene besadenovec has demonstrated a favorable tolerability profile, with more than 1,000 patients having been treated to date across a range of solid tumor types. For linoserpaturev, dose-limiting toxicity was not observed in a study where patients with recurrent high-grade glioma received a single injection into their brain tumor. The localized injection method is designed to minimize side effects throughout the body.

Can these treatments be combined with other cancer therapies?

Yes. Aglatimagene has shown potential for combination with various standard cancer treatments including radiotherapy, surgery, chemotherapy, hormone therapy (androgen deprivation therapy), and immune checkpoint inhibitors. This versatility means it may enhance the effectiveness of other treatments you’re already receiving.

What cancers are being studied with these treatments?
Aglatimagene is currently being evaluated in patients with non-small cell lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, and localized, non-metastatic prostate cancer. Linoserpaturev is being studied in patients with recurrent high-grade glioma (a type of brain cancer). Because of how the treatments work, they have potential to treat a wide range of solid tumors in the future.

Could Candel Therapeutics viral immunotherapies be right for you? Talk with your provider today.