GeoVax Labs, Inc. to Collaborate with Georgia State University on Development of Therapeutic Hepatitis B Vaccine
January 17, 2017 at 07:30 pm IST
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GeoVax Labs, Inc. announced that it has entered into a research collaboration agreement with Georgia State University Research Foundation (GSU) to advance the company's development of a therapeutic vaccine for treatment of chronic Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) infections. The project will include the design, construction, characterization and animal testing of multiple vaccine candidates using GeoVax's MVA-VLP vaccine platform. Vaccine antigens include both GeoVax and GSU's proprietary designed sequences. The vaccine design, construction, and characterization will be performed at GeoVax with further characterization and immunogenicity studies in mice conducted at GSU in collaboration with the Shenzhen Graduate School of Peking University. Unique functional assays developed by Dr. Ming Luo, Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Georgia State University, and performed at Peking University will provide key information on vaccine efficacy. Therapeutic vaccine candidates will be based upon GeoVax's novel MVA-VLP vector platform, which has been proven safe in multiple human clinical trials of company's preventive HIV vaccine. This platform is also being used by GeoVax to develop preventive vaccines against Zika virus and hemorrhagic fever viruses (Ebola, Sudan, Marburg, and Lassa). GeoVax also recently initiated a collaborative project with The Burnet Institute to use its MVA-VLP platform to develop a vaccine to prevent malaria infection.
GeoVax Labs, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing human vaccines and immunotherapies against infectious diseases and solid tumor cancers using proprietary platforms. Its product pipeline includes ongoing human clinical trials for a Covid-19 vaccine and a gene-directed therapy against advanced head and neck cancers. Its additional research and development programs include preventive vaccines against Mpox and smallpox, hemorrhagic fever viruses (Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudan and Marburg), Zika virus and malaria, as well as immunotherapies for multiple solid tumors. The Companyâs portfolio of wholly owned, co-owned, and in-licensed intellectual property, stands at over 155 granted or pending patent applications spread over 24 patent families. Its product candidate includes GEO-CM04S1, GEO-CM02, Gedeptin, MVA-VLP-MUC1, GEO-ZM02 and others. Its lead infectious disease candidate is GEO-CM04S1, a COVID-19 vaccine targeting high-risk immunocompromised patient populations.