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news.Immunovaccine has announced a preclinical collaboration with The University of Edinburgh’s Center for Immunity, Infection and Evolution (CIIE).
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The study will explore if novel CIIE-identified targets, when formulated in the DepoVax delivery system, provide immunogenic responses against parasites that cause life-threatening malaria. The collaborators expect to present data later this year.
Malaria is a parasitic disease in which the infection is transferred via bites by Anopheles mosquitoes. The World Malaria Report 2015, released by the World Health Organization (WHO), estimated that there were 214 million new cases of malaria worldwide in 2015, resulting in 438,000 deaths.
While there are multiple forms of malaria, this study focuses specifically on the most deadly presentation, in which infected red blood cells stick together, forming clusters within small blood vessels. This process, known as ‘rosetting,’ can result in hypoxia, organ damage, and can contribute to death.
"Our DepoVax platform has a strong track record against a range of deadly infectious diseases, and its sustained delivery system and ability to support multiple antigens make it ideally suited to help address the global health threat posed by malaria as well," said Marianne Stanford, PhD, Director of Research at Immunovaccine.
"We are fortunate to work with Professor Alexandra Rowe and her team at CIIE, who have done tremendous work in identifying novel, effective targets across a range of deadly malarial pathogens. With severe malaria being a serious health concern, an effective vaccine that can address the rosetting process has the potential to have a significant positive impact on global malaria mortality rates."
The University of Edinburgh team, led by malaria researcher J. Alexandra Rowe, D Phil, Professor of Molecular Medicine, identified the parasitic proteins that play a critical role in binding to human blood cells, resulting in the rosetting process seen in the most virulent form of the disease.
"Our lab has worked over the past several years to better understand the processes leading to the severe forms of malaria," said Prof. Rowe. "Working with Immunovaccine and their DepoVax™ system, we now have an effective way of targeting the antigens related to the most lethal forms of the infection. The goal is to block these processes that are most likely to result in death from this disease."
Malaria is still one of the major causes of preventable death in the world. The WHO’s World Malaria Report 2015 reported that children under five are particularly susceptible to malaria illness, infection and death. In 2015, malaria was responsible globally for 306,000 deaths of children under the age of five.
Malaria is caused by a parasite of the Plasmodium species (either Plasmodium falciparum or Plasmodium vivax are most common), which enter the human circulatory system via bites by Anopheles mosquitoes. Currently, there is no vaccine on the market to prevent life-threatening malaria, which is mostly caused by Plasmodium falciparum.
"While our development work in immuno-oncology continues, our infectious disease strategy remains to identify opportunities where our DepoVax platform can deliver high value to researchers and, ultimately, patients," said Frederic Ors, Chief Executive Officer of Immunovaccine.
"This work with The University of Edinburgh in malaria is an important step in our work to deploy DepoVax™ in a timely, precise and advantageous manner in areas of high unmet medical need."
About DepoVax
DepoVax is a patented formulation that provides controlled and prolonged exposure of antigens plus adjuvant to the immune system, resulting in a strong, specific and sustained immune response with the potential for single-dose effectiveness. The DepoVax platform is flexible and can be used with a broad range of target antigens for preventative or therapeutic applications. The technology is designed to be commercially scalable, with the potential for years of shelf life stability.
Fully synthetic, off-the-shelf DepoVax-based vaccines are also relatively easy to manufacture, store, and administer. This would enable Immunovaccine to pursue vaccine candidates in cancer, infectious diseases and other vaccine applications.