UbiVac Appoints Walter J. Urba, M.D., Ph.D., to Scientific Advisory Board

Former Providence Cancer Institute CMO and cancer immunotherapy pioneer Dr. Walter Urba joins UbiVac SAB to advance Dark Matter immunotherapies.

PORTLAND, OR, UNITED STATES, May 18, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- UbiVac, a clinical-stage immunotherapy and cancer target discovery company developing off-the-shelf cancer immunotherapies targeting Dark Genome-derived “Dark Matter” antigens, today announced the appointment of Walter J. Urba to its Scientific Advisory Board.

Dr. Urba is an internationally recognized leader in cancer immunotherapy and translational oncology. He previously served as Chief Medical Officer of Providence Cancer Institute and Founding Director of the Cancer Research Program at the Earle A. Chiles Research Institute, where he helped establish one of the nation’s leading immuno-oncology research and clinical trial programs. Dr. Urba has played a major role in advancing cytokine therapy, cancer vaccines, adoptive cellular therapy, and immune checkpoint inhibition.

“Dr. Urba has been deeply involved in the scientific strategy behind UbiVac since the earliest development of our vaccine platform and was the principal investigator on the first two NCI-funded clinical trials evaluating our technology,” said Bernard A. Fox, Founder and CEO of UbiVac. “His leadership in cancer immunotherapy and translational medicine has helped shape the field, and we are honored to formally welcome him to UbiVac’s Scientific Advisory Board as we advance our Dark Matter immunotherapy platform into later-stage development.”

UbiVac’s lead product candidate, DPV-001, is an off-the-shelf microvesicle-based immunotherapy designed to induce broad anti-tumor immune responses against shared tumor-associated antigens, including Dark Genome-derived “Dark Matter” antigens. In a Phase Ib combination immunotherapy study in recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), DPV-001 combination immunotherapy more than doubled overall survival compared with historical outcomes reported for standard-of-care pembrolizumab.

“I am excited to join UbiVac’s Scientific Advisory Board at a time when the field is increasingly recognizing the importance of non-canonical tumor antigens as targets for immunotherapy,” said Dr. Urba. “UbiVac’s platform is uniquely positioned to exploit this emerging biology by combining broad antigenic coverage with endogenous immune stimulation in an off-the-shelf therapeutic approach.”

UbiVac is advancing its Dark Matter immunotherapy platform across multiple solid tumor indications and leveraging immune responses generated against hundreds of Dark Genome-derived antigens to identify novel targets for future immunotherapeutic strategies, including T cell engagers and antibody-drug conjugates.

About UbiVac

UbiVac is a clinical-stage immunotherapy and cancer target discovery company developing off-the-shelf cancer immunotherapies targeting cancer’s “Dark Matter” — non-canonical, non-mutated shared tumor antigens derived from the Dark Genome. UbiVac’s lead product candidate, DPV-001, is designed to induce broad T cell, B cell, and innate immune responses against hundreds of tumor-associated antigens expressed across a broad spectrum of solid tumors, including cancers of the prostate, breast, head and neck, pancreas, lung, ovary, brain, kidney, bladder, and colon. UbiVac is leveraging immune responses against these shared antigens to develop next-generation immunotherapies and novel targets for T cell engagers and antibody-drug conjugates.

Bernard A. Fox, PhD
UbiVac
+1 971-413-7139
press@ubivac.com
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