Dr. Chen Pioneers “One-Shot Cure” Oncolytic Viruses

Recently, Dr. Nanhai George Chen, Chief Scientist of Longyao Bio, together with US-based ViroMissile, Inc. under his leadership, was awarded the “Top Cancer Destroying Platform 2025” by internationally renowned industry media Life Sciences Review on May 15, 2025. The recognition was accompanied by a feature article titled “ViroMissile: ‘One-Shot’ Cure for Deadly Cancers.”

This award and feature report represent high-level validation of the clinical value of the IDOV™ platform—the world’s first oncolytic vaccinia virus technology platform engineered for systemic intravenous administration, co‑owned by Longyao Bio and ViroMissile. It comprehensively showcases Dr. Chen’s three decades of scientific expertise and the global leadership of the IDOV™ platform.

As the world’s pioneering entity to successfully deliver oncolytic viruses via intravenous injection to human tumor tissues, Longyao Bio’s joint clinical development achievements with ViroMissile are built on Dr. Chen’s more than 30 years of experience in virotherapy.

Three Decades of Innovation, Three Generations of Oncolytic Viruses

Dr. Chen is a globally recognized leader in virotherapy with over 30 years of experience in oncolytic virus development. Prior to joining Longyao Bio, he successfully led the development of two generations of oncolytic vaccinia virus products:

• The first generation completed Phase II clinical trials and met its primary endpoints.

• The second generation was out‑licensed to Imugene Limited, an Australian publicly listed company, and advanced into Phase I trials.

Building on these two generations, Dr. Chen isolated and developed the third‑generation oncolytic vaccinia virus platform — IDOV™ (Intravenously Deliverable Oncolytic Virus) — through mixed culture and precise screening, achieving a historic leap from intratumoral injection to systemic intravenous administration.

IDOV™ Platform: Solving the Global Challenge of Intravenous Delivery

Traditional oncolytic viruses are predominantly administered via intratumoral injection, which limits their ability to reach metastatic lesions. The core breakthrough of the IDOV™ platform lies in its proprietary high‑yield EEV (extracellular enveloped virus) strain, which enables the virus to effectively evade immune clearance and distribute systemically to tumors throughout the body via intravenous injection.

This breakthrough addresses a decades‑long bottleneck in the field, bringing the vision of a “one‑shot cure” from preclinical models closer to clinical reality.

Based on the IDOV™ platform, Dr. Chen’s team has constructed four modular product candidates:

• IDOV‑Safe™Features an exclusive “Magic Switch” gene module that selectively inhibits viral replication in normal cells (inhibition rate >99.7%). It has demonstrated unexpectedly specific and potent killing efficacy against MSS colorectal cancer (10–100‑fold enhanced potency). The product is currently in investigator‑initiated trials at top‑tier Chinese cancer centers, with clinical data confirming effective tumor targeting and meaningful efficacy.

• IDOV‑Immune™Expresses potent immunostimulatory factors to systemically activate anti‑tumor immune responses, converting “cold tumors” into “hot tumors.” In mouse models, a single intravenous injection achieved complete tumor clearance. The product has obtained FDA IND approval and initiated dosing in its Phase I trial in Australia.

• IDOV‑Stealth™Engineered with triple gene modifications to evade immune clearance by the complement system, NK cells, and T cells, enabling sustained replication and spread within tumors.

• IDOV‑Anti‑Angio™Armed with dual‑target anti‑angiogenic genes, locally releasing anti‑angiogenic proteins within tumors to achieve precise “one‑drug, dual‑target” inhibition.

International Recognition with Accelerating Clinical Progress

In its May 15, 2025 issue, Life Sciences Review noted that ViroMissile “is the first company to demonstrate effective intravenous delivery of an oncolytic virus in both preclinical models and human patients”, and its technological breakthrough “has the potential to revolutionize cancer treatment.”

The report also emphasized that Dr. Chen’s team is not designing hundreds of different therapies for hundreds of cancer types, but rather targeting fundamental hallmarks of cancer and activating the immune system to achieve broad applicability with a single approach.

In China, Longyao Bio’s core product IDOV‑Safe™ has successively obtained ethical approvals from:

• Peking University Cancer Hospital

• Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences

• Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center

• Beijing GoBroad Hospital (Peking University Cancer Hospital Sub‑Center)

This progress continuously strengthens the company’s nationwide multi‑center clinical layout. Preclinical and early clinical data consistently validate the revolutionary potential of the IDOV™ platform.

Looking Ahead

“Our animal models strongly suggest that our vision of a ‘one‑shot’ cure for deadly cancers can soon become a reality for humans,” Dr. Chen stated in the interview.

Longyao Bio will leverage the technological advantages of the IDOV™ platform to continue advancing the clinical development of IDOV‑Safe™ and IDOV‑Immune™, committed to bringing the hope of cure to patients with refractory solid tumors worldwide through this revolutionary technology platform.