GeoVax Labs, Inc. and BravoVax to Collaborate on Development of Coronavirus Vaccine
January 27, 2020 at 03:18 pm
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GeoVax Labs, Inc. together with BravoVax announced the signing of a Letter of Intent to jointly develop a vaccine against the new coronavirus (known as 2019-nCoV). Under the collaboration, GeoVax will use its MVA-VLP vaccine platform and expertise to design and construct the vaccine candidate using genetic sequences from the ongoing coronavirus outbreak originating in Wuhan, China. BravoVax will provide further development, including testing and manufacturing support, as well as direct interactions with Chinese public health and regulatory authorities. GeoVax’s Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) platform technology is built on a 5th generation MVA vector system that is improved for high expression and stable transgenes during manufacture. Similar to its parent MVA, it has the advantage of being a live replication-competent vector in avian cells for manufacturing, yet replication-deficient in mammalian cells for vaccination, thus inherently safe. Importantly, MVA vaccines elicit protective T cell as well as antibody responses in animals and humans. The GeoVax MVA platform can be combined with the potent immunogenicity of Virus Like Particles (VLPs) (insertion of multiple antigens from each pathogen of interest conferring broad protection) or be used to express proteins in their native conformations, enabling construction of vaccine candidates that induce full protection after a single dose. Single dose protection is a favourable characteristic of preventive vaccines for emerging infectious disease outbreak response, given the speed of spread of pathogens and the impracticality of multi-dose regimens in the under-resourced settings where outbreaks often occurs. MVA-VLP vaccine candidates against various virus families (e.g. Ebola, Marburg, Lassa and Zika) induced strong antibody and T cell responses and demonstrated broad protections after single dose vaccinations against lethal challenges.
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.
GEOVAX LABS, INC. 
