The Immune Response Corporation (IRC) was founded by Dr. Jonas Salk and Kevin Kimberlin to develop an AIDS immunotherapeutic and cancer immunotherapeutic products. The company conducted 18 clinical trials regarding an HIV immune therapy which was described by Dr. Bruce Walker at Mass General Hospital as the first evidence of reconstitution of the immune response by therapeutic vaccination.
What was cited as the largest immune therapy trial to date was comprised of 2,500 patients. IRC soon found difficulty as retroviral drugs were introduced during the 3 year study. As a result, the trial did not meet its endpoints, however a cohort of 250 patients provided evidence of the effectiveness of the therapy.
In 1990, the first member of Kimberlin’s scientific advisors – Dr. Jacques Urbain – invented a B-Cell lymphoma anti-idiotype immune therapy which IRC patented. After several years, IRC licensed that patent to a start up in exchange for stock and a cash payment. That startup was backed by Microsoft founder Paul Allan and healthcare ventures which tested the dendritic cell conjugate and received the FDA approval in 2010 for the first cancer immune therapy ever. In January of 2017, that company was acquired by Sanpower Corporation, a Chinese conglomerate which is expanding the prostate cancer vaccine throughout the world.
Manufacturing facilities that made this vaccine required by Novartis in order to provide clinical and commercial supplies of the first FDA approved gene therapy known as Kymriah. Kymriah, was approved by the FDA received market as the first gene therapy and another step in the advance of immune therapeutics pioneered by the IRC.