The Immune Response Corporation
The Immune Response Corporation (IRC) was a biotech company that worked on immunotherapy, the idea of using the body’s immune system to fight cancer and other diseases. It was started by Jonas Salk, the developer of the polio vaccine, and Kevin Kimberlin, who invited Salk to be the lead scientific advisor. The company explored anti-idiotype vaccines, a new approach at the time.
Key leaders included CEO Jim Glavin and Chief Scientific Officer Dennis Carlo. Joe O’Neill later became CEO in 2005 because of his work on the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). IRC worked with many partners, including Colgate, The Rorer Group, Rhône-Poulenc, The Pasteur Institute, Institute Merieux, NovaRx, Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Bayer, and Pfizer. The company went public in 1990.
IRC’s main scientific effort was an anti-idiotype antibody program developed from the work of Belgian biologist Jacques Urbain, who reported that dendritic cells could greatly boost antiviral immune responses when used with anti-idiotype antibodies. This approach aimed to train the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells, starting with a vaccine against B-cell lymphoma. In 1990, IRC filed a patent titled “Idiotypic Vaccination Against B-Cell Lymphoma” and described a treatment that used antigen-presenting dendritic cells to trigger responses to tumor antigens. In preclinical studies published in 1994, most treated rats survived, while controls did not.
An independent group at Stanford later published Phase I clinical results of this dendritic cell–based approach for B-cell lymphoma. The IRC technology was licensed to a startup, which later became Dendreon, after receiving founders’ stock, cash, and royalties. Dendreon’s investors included Paul Allen. The cell-based immune therapy developed from this line, Sipuleucel-T (Provenge), became the first FDA-approved immunotherapy vaccine for cancer.
The same line of thinking influenced later successes in cell-based therapies. The manufacturing process and facility used for the IRC project helped pave the way for Kymriah, the first CAR-T therapy from Novartis, which required a specialized, large-scale manufacturing setup. In 2017, Kymriah became the first gene therapy approved by the FDA, a milestone celebrated by the agency.
IRC also pursued AIDS immunotherapy based on Salk’s ideas, arguing that HIV-infected patients could mount stronger immune responses through therapeutic vaccination. In 1987, IRC moved quickly to sponsor the first human HIV vaccine trial under state rules that allowed testing without federal approval. The large Phase III study, Study 806, enrolled about 2,500 patients to test the HIV immunotherapy alongside antiviral drugs. The trial was stopped early because potent antiviral drugs reduced AIDS-related illness, and the trial’s design varied across participants, complicating interpretation. Despite this, HIV/AIDS researchers like Bruce Walker saw the study as an early sign that boosting the immune system could help people with chronic HIV infection.
Financially, after the HIV trial, IRC faced funding challenges and ultimately liquidated its assets in 2008, having raised about $350 million. Nevertheless, the company’s work helped advance cancer immunotherapy, including concepts that contributed to later approved cancer vaccines and the growth of cell-based immunotherapies.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 18:33 (CET).