Vicebio has announced its aim to accelerate the development of novel vaccines against life-threatening respiratory viral infections using its novel molecular clamp technology platform.
The technology has been developed by Professor Paul Young, Dr Daniel Watterson, Dr Keith Chappell and their respective groups at The University of Queensland (UQ) and licensed to Vicebio by UniQuest, the commercialisation company of UQ.
Medicxi has so far committed €18m to progress this technology into the clinic, while Dr Emmanuel Hanon – the former head of vaccines R&D at GSK – has been appointed as chief executive officer at the company.
The molecular clamp technology is a patented protein tag that effectively stabilises a wide range of complex viral proteins. It has been applied to generate vaccine candidates for several viruses including COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), metapneumovirus and influenza. Clinical proof-of-concept has been achieved for COVID-19 with a previous version of the technology in a phase 1 study conducted in Australia by UQ.
Vicebio is progressing its RSV vaccine candidate – known as VXB-211 – through preclinical and development activities with the objective to start a phase 1 proof-of-concept clinical study during the second half of 2023. The ambition is to deliver an RSV vaccine with best-in-class efficacy as a ready-to-use fully liquid formulation.
In the future, Vicebio will apply the molecular clamp technology to develop multivalent formulations targeting several respiratory viruses into ready-to-use single shot vaccines.
Dr Giovanni Mariggi, chairman of Vicebio, explained: “Medicxi is dedicated to implementing a strategy focused on backing world-leading founders and technologies to deliver meaningful therapies and look forward to supporting Vicebio’s contribution to creating the next-generation of vaccines,” he added.
Dr Emmanuel Hanon added: “I am delighted to join Vicebio as we pursue this novel approach to vaccine development, targeting life-threatening respiratory viruses. I am impressed and grateful for the technology development and clinical data already generated by the UQ research team to advance the technology platform and am honoured to be taking their invention forward.”
The Vicebio team has extensive experience in the research and development of innovative vaccines and has launched several commercially successful products using novel platform technologies. Hanon spent 20 years at GSK and was global head of R&D at GSK Vaccines. A virologist and immunologist by training, he made critical contributions to next-generation adjuvants and their inclusion in successful vaccines for pandemic influenza, malaria and shingles.
