EVATAK™ is an investigational anti-cancer therapeutic being developed by Viralytics for a range of cancer types. EVATAK™ kills both local tumour cells and distant metastatic cells, by direct cytolysis and by inducing an immune response to tumour cells. EVATAK™ is an ECHOvirus - ECHO is an acronym for 'enteric cytopathic human orphan'. Orphan was used to describe the virus as it is not linked to any human disease, and hence as oncolytic virotherapy is not expected to result in side effects of any significance.
EVATAK™ binds specifically to the integrin α2β1 (alpha 2 beta 1) receptor. This receptor is found in high levels on ovarian, prostate and gastric cancer cells and preclinical studies have shown that EVATAK™ destroys these cancer cells and so has the potential to be a useful therapeutic for these cancers.