Phoenix Bioscience Core-based Calviri Inc.’s founder Dr. Stephen Johnston recently spoke to Progress, Potential and Possibilities on eradicating cancer via a universival preventative cancer vaccine.

Dr. Johnston is the director for the Center of Innovations in Medicine at Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute and co-founded Calviri. The company was formed in 2020 out of ASU and is focused on developing a vaccine to prevent cancer and also producing a diagnostic system that allows monitoring of healthy people to better understand pre-symptomatic medicine.

“How many times have you heard, ‘cancer is complex. It’s complicated, we need to study it more, we need more money.’” Dr. Johnston told show host Iro Pastor. “I think that’s true but you can also say, ‘is there a simple solution to this problem?’ And if we’re right on this cancer vaccine, it is a simple solution.”

Dr. Johnston and his team are currently working on the world’s largest study, Vaccine Against Canine Cancer Study, among 800 dogs. The objective is to test the efficacy over 5 years of a preventative vaccine against all major cancers – double blind, equal arms. The study is funded by a $6.4m grant from the Open Philanthropy Project and Calviri, Inc. The Data Safety Monitoring Board concluded that there was no safety or autoimmune response. The next milestone in Q2 2022 is the year 3 study report on efficacy, according to Calviri’s website.

Calviri has continued to grow since its 2020 founding. Just a couple of weeks ago, it announced it had formed a new scientific advisory board to help the company continue on its path to commercialization.