FAQs

The Equitable Oncology Model is how we help advance cancer treatments with the people who may ultimately need them in mind from the beginning.

It brings together scientific innovation, philanthropy and collaborative partnerships to consider not only the science, but also what a treatment may cost, how it can be manufactured and stored, and how and where it could ultimately be delivered.

Decisions made while a treatment is being developed can influence its eventual cost and how easily it can be provided to patients.

Considering factors such as manufacturing, storage, supply and how treatment can be delivered early can help avoid barriers that may be difficult or expensive to address later.

The way a treatment is developed and funded influences who can ultimately benefit from it.

Advancing a cancer treatment can be expensive. If all of those costs need to be recovered through the eventual treatment price, the treatment may be put beyond the reach of many patients and place a significant financial burden on their families.

Philanthropy provides another way to help fund those costs, reducing the amount that ultimately needs to be recovered through the treatment price.

Funding for Impact is our approach to using philanthropy to help fund the advancement of cancer treatments.

By reducing the amount that needs to be recovered through the eventual treatment price, philanthropic funding can help create greater opportunities for more people to benefit.

Philanthropy enables affordability.

Where Equitable Oncology shares in the success it helps create, any returns can be used to support future programmes and further our charitable purpose. This gives philanthropic funding the potential to create value more than once.

The Model considers the eventual treatment cost while a cancer treatment is being advanced, rather than trying to address price only after it has been developed.

Philanthropic funding can help reduce the costs that need to be recovered through the treatment price, while collaboration allows us to use existing specialist expertise, infrastructure and resources rather than unnecessarily duplicating them.

Together, these approaches can help keep the eventual cost of treatment lower.

No. Making treatment more affordable does not mean compromising quality.

Cancer treatments advanced through the Equitable Oncology Model must still meet the scientific, clinical, regulatory and safety standards required for their development and use.

No. Cost is important, but a lower price alone does not make a treatment accessible.

The Model also considers practical factors such as how and where treatment can be delivered, storage and supply requirements, manufacturing and scalability. These factors can influence whether treatment can ultimately reach people outside major treatment centres and in healthcare systems with different levels of infrastructure.

Yes. K5K is the first programme being advanced through the Equitable Oncology Model, but the Model is not limited to K5K or to a single technology.

Over time, Equitable Oncology aims to support other cancer treatment opportunities where the Model can help create greater opportunities for more people to access treatment.

K5K is an innovative cancer immunotherapy and the first programme being advanced through the Equitable Oncology Model.

It is designed to harness the body’s own immune system to recognise and attack cancer.

The name K5K reflects:

K – Kode Technology, the platform on which K5K is based.

5 – its target treatment cost of USD $5,000 or less per treatment course.

K – thousand, reflecting the target cost of USD $5,000 (5K) per treatment course.

No. K5K is a cancer immunotherapy.

Rather than directly killing cancer cells in the way chemotherapy does, K5K is designed to stimulate the body’s immune system to recognise and attack cancer.

K5K is injected directly into a tumour, where it tags cancer cells with immune-stimulating markers, helping make the cancer visible to the immune system.

This attracts immune cells to the tumour and activates an immune response that attacks the cancer cells.

We describe this simply as TAG. ALARM. ATTACK.

K5K is injected directly into a tumour so it can tag the cancer cells and help make them visible to the immune system.

The immune response begins at the treated tumour and aims to generate a broader response against that tumour and others elsewhere in the body.

K5K aims to generate an immune response beyond the tumour that is injected.

As cancer cells are destroyed, material released from the tumour is collected by specialised immune cells and transported to nearby lymph nodes, where it helps activate a broader immune response to markers from the tumour.

These activated immune cells can then circulate through the body, aiming to attack cancer cells in both the treated tumour and other tumours elsewhere in the body.

K5K is not designed to target a single type of cancer. It has the potential to be relevant across multiple solid tumour types that can be directly injected.

K5K builds on more than three decades of research into Kode technology.

Its scientific foundation includes human clinical experience with AGI-134, an earlier-generation KIE evaluated in a Phase 1/2a human clinical study, together with translational evidence from Kv9 in veterinary oncology, treating cancer in animals. Kv9 uses the same molecule as K5K.

K5K is progressing towards first-in-human clinical studies.

The next stage of development will commence once funding is secured.

K5K is being designed to remain stable at ambient temperatures above 40°C, reducing the need for continuous refrigerated storage.

This can simplify storage and transportation and help make treatment more practical in rural, remote and lower-resource settings, where cold-chain infrastructure may be limited or difficult to maintain.

It can also help create opportunities for treatment to be delivered closer to where people live, rather than only in major treatment centres.

K5K has a target treatment cost of USD $5,000 or less per treatment course.

The target reflects the aim of making treatment more affordable and reducing the financial burden on patients and their families.

No. K5K is not currently available as an approved cancer treatment.

It is progressing towards first-in-human clinical studies. The next stage of development will commence once funding is secured.

K5K was developed by KodeRx Limited. Equitable Oncology is helping advance K5K through the Equitable Oncology Model.

There are many ways to support our mission of helping more people access cancer treatment.

You can contribute through donations and philanthropy, expertise, services, resources, advocacy, connections or collaboration.

Visit our Get Involved page to explore the different ways you can help.

All Equitable Oncology funds must be used to support our charitable purpose.

Donations can help build the organisational capability needed to deliver our work, advance K5K, bring together specialist expertise and resources, and support future cancer treatment programmes.

No. Unless a donation is specifically agreed for a particular purpose, donations can support Equitable Oncology’s broader charitable work.

This allows funding to be directed where it can best help us deliver our mission, including building the capability needed to advance K5K and future programmes.

Absolutely. Every contribution, large or small, can make a difference towards helping more people access cancer treatment.

Equitable Oncology is a registered New Zealand charity (CC64930). We are currently completing a formal step with Inland Revenue to confirm “donee organisation” status — the status that allows individual donors to claim New Zealand’s standard tax credit on their gift. We will update this page as soon as that is confirmed. In the meantime, every donation is properly processed and receipted, and goes directly to advancing our mission.

Yes. We welcome conversations with philanthropists, philanthropic organisations, foundations and other organisations interested in supporting our charitable purpose.

Support can include funding Equitable Oncology’s organisational capability, K5K, future programmes or other agreed areas of our work.

Equitable Oncology Supporters are individuals and organisations that choose to support our charitable purpose through philanthropy, financial contributions, resources, advocacy, connections or other forms of support.

Supporters remain independent and can contribute in ways that reflect their interests and capabilities.

Equitable Oncology Service Providers are independent organisations or professionals engaged to provide specialist expertise or services that Equitable Oncology needs to deliver its work.

They work with us through agreed contractual arrangements while remaining independent.

Equitable Oncology Partners are organisations and individuals invited to work collaboratively with us where their expertise, capability, infrastructure or resources can contribute to our programmes and charitable purpose.

Partners remain independent, and participation is by invitation.

Equitable Oncology Partners may also be eligible to apply for future Equitable Oncology grant funding programmes, where available.

If your organisation has expertise, capability, infrastructure, resources or funding that could contribute to our work, we would be pleased to hear from you.

Visit Get Involved or contact Equitable Oncology to start a conversation.

Equitable Oncology does not provide cancer treatment directly.

Our role is to help advance cancer treatments so that more people have the opportunity to access them in the future.

K5K is not currently available as an approved cancer treatment.

It is progressing towards first-in-human clinical studies. The next stage of development will commence once funding is secured.

It is too early to know when K5K may become available as an approved cancer treatment.

K5K must first progress through clinical studies and the required regulatory processes to evaluate its safety and effectiveness.

K5K has not yet commenced first-in-human clinical studies, so there are currently no K5K clinical studies open for patient participation.

Information about future K5K clinical studies and opportunities to participate will be made available when appropriate.

The location for K5K’s first-in-human clinical studies will be announced once confirmed.

Information will be made available through the Equitable Oncology website when appropriate.

Equitable Oncology cannot enrol patients into clinical studies or determine whether an individual may be eligible to participate.

Information about future K5K clinical studies and how potential participants can enquire will be provided when appropriate.

Equitable Oncology cannot provide individual medical advice or determine whether K5K or another cancer treatment may be suitable for a particular person.

Please speak with your treating doctor or another appropriately qualified healthcare professional about your individual treatment and care.

Equitable Oncology does not currently provide individual financial assistance for cancer treatment.

As our programmes progress, Equitable Oncology may support initiatives designed to help more people access the cancer treatments we help advance.