During the Penn Center for Innovation’s 10th annual Celebration of Innovation, viTToria Biotherapeutics was presented with the Startup of the Year Award for its remarkable progress in the development of promising treatment of T-cell lymphoma.
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Marco Ruella, associate professor of medicine at PSOM and hematologist-oncologist at Penn Medicine, and colleagues in the Ruella Lab.
When hematologist and physician-scientist Marco Ruella came to Penn from Italy as a postdoctoral fellow in 2012, one of his dreams was to help drive the development of new treatments and cures for patients with lymphoma.
Over the following decade at the Perelman School of Medicine (PSOM), Ruella led multiple bench-to-bedside projects that would help bring that dream to life. Among the outcomes from his research has been the 2021 launch of viTToria Biotherapeutics (viTToria), a startup dedicated to building novel immunotherapies for difficult-to-treat diseases such as T-cell lymphomas. At the 10th annual Penn Center for Innovation’s (PCI) Celebration of Innovation on Dec. 3 viTToria won the Startup of the Year Award for its research and development advancements in cellular therapy for T-cell lymphoma, an aggressive type of blood cancer with few FDA-approved treatments.
“I’m very thankful for the support that Penn and PCI have provided, including Penn Medicine’s direct investment into the company,” says Ruella, associate professor of medicine at PSOM and principal investigator in the Ruella Lab at the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies. “Our goal at viTToria is to bring safe and efficacious cellular therapies to as many patients as possible.”
Elevating lymphoma treatments
Ruella and colleagues used genetic engineering—including CRISPR gene-editing technologies—to formulate a CAR (chimeric antigen receptor) T-cell therapy that they hope will be more potent than current CAR T products by removing CD5, an inhibitory molecule normally expressed in T-cells. The CD5-deleted CAR T therapy is then able to target T-cell lymphomas. Given that CAR T products targeting T-cells can lead to immunosuppression by attacking benign T-cells in addition to malignant cells, Ruella says, his team also infuses healthy T-cells into the mix to protect lymphoma patients from infection.
Ruella and his team are observing a very high response rate in clinical trials so far. This is significant, he explains, given that in similar populations, his team would only expect about 20% complete response. Only about one in five patients with T-cell lymphoma survive more than five years after diagnosis.
Currently available blood cancer therapies can be particularly taxing on patients, often involving numerous rounds of treatment and intense side effects. Typically, CAR T-cell therapy is minimally invasive, requiring just one infusion. This shows promise not only for helping patients reach remission, but also for improving quality-of-life during treatment. It may also be applicable to targeting other types of blood cancers, including various subsets of leukemias and lymphomas.
Launching viTToria has enabled Ruella and the team to take pivotal steps toward potentially improving T-cell lymphoma care. They have the resources to generate additional intellectual property around their ideas and pursue clinical trials, with the goal of bringing new treatments from the lab to patients.
“The idea to start viTToria was really to create an entire [research and development] platform to support the development of this concept of CAR T-cell [therapy] for T-cell lymphoma,” says Ruella, crediting fellow viTToria co-founders Bruce Peacock and Nicholas Siciliano with leading the process of raising the initial funds to launch and support the startup, and Agent Capita for being viTToria’s founding investor.
“[We’re] very thankful to our investors that have believed in us,” and Ruella, who previously won PCI’s Inventor of the Year Award in 2024.
(Left) Liang Feng and colleague demonstrating some of the apparatus used for his work in photonics and quantum optics; (right) Nicola Mason and colleagues with Rex, the first dog treated in Penn Vet’s metastatic osteosarcoma trial.
A legacy of Penn mentorship
Ruella notes the vital role of Penn mentors in guiding his development as a physician-scientist, including Carl H. June, Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy; Saar Gill, professor of medicine in the division of hematology-oncology; and Stephen J. Schuster, director of the lymphoma translational research program at the Abramson Cancer Center.
“I felt really empowered by my mentors,” says Ruella, “and I try to do my very best to support the next generation,” noting one of his own mentees, Ruchi Patel, who earned her Ph.D. at Penn, led the preclinical work that helped launch viTToria.
PCI staff, including Mark Engleka and Michael Yocum, routinely meet with Ruella to discuss new intellectual property created by the Ruella Lab, review project progress, and provide guidance on protecting ideas. Such support aligns with PCI’s mission to help translate Penn discoveries and ideas into tangible outcomes and serve as a hub for commercial partnership with the University. “[PCI] is an integral part of my work life, and I am very thankful for their support,” Ruella says.
From left to right: Ben Dibling, PCI managing director and associate vice provost for research; Marco Ruella, associate professor of medicine; Nick Siciliano, co-founder of viTToria Biotherapeutics; Geeta Vemuri, founder and managing partner of Agent Capital; Bruce Levine, the Barbara and Edward Netter Professor in Cancer Gene Therapy at Penn Medicine; Liang Feng, professor of materials science and engineering; Nicola Mason, professor of medicine and pathobiology; Preston Noon, partner and co-founder of Agent Capital; and Dave Meaney, PCI vice provost for research.
(Image: John Donges / Penn Vet)
Several other Penn-affiliated inventors and trailblazers were recognized during this year’s PCI Celebration of Innovation, including:
Capstan Therapeutics, presented with the Deal of the Year Award, in recognition of its ongoing clinical evaluation of an in vivo CAR T therapy and its successful acquisition by AbbVie—accepted by Bruce L. Levine, the Barbara and Edward Netter Professor in Cancer Gene Therapy at PSOM
Agent Capital, founding investors in viTToria Biotherapeutics and numerous other Penn spinouts, bestowed with the Paul. D. Sehnert Memorial Partner of the Year Award
Nicola J. Mason, professor of medicine and pathobiology at the School of Veterinary Medicine, awarded Inventor of the Year in recognition of her extraordinary advancements in veterinary immunotherapy
Liang Feng, professor of materials science and engineering at the School of Engineering and Applied Science, named Emerging Inventor of the Year in recognition of his groundbreaking work in photonics and quantum optics.
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