Project Portfolio

Group A Streptococcus Vaccine

Group A Streptococcus Vaccine

Technology Platform: Infectious Disease

PREVENT, in collaboration with Vaxent, Inc. is developing a 30-valent vaccine which will provide coverage for at least 95% of North American and 90% of European GAS infections, as well as significant protection in the rest of the world. Phase I clinical study will be initiated in 2013.

  • Group A streptococci (GAS) are ubiquitous human pathogens that cause a wide spectrum of clinical syndromes. Acute infections range from uncomplicated pharyngitis, cellulitis, and pyoderma to necrotizing fasciitis (flash-eating disease), sepsis, pneumonia, and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome. The non-suppurative sequelae that may follow GAS infections are acute rheumatic fever, rheumatic heart disease and post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis. Once initiated, these sequelae cannot be blocked with antibiotic treatment, making vaccination a highly desirable approach for PREVENT.
  • The M proteins have been functionally defined as surface proteins that a) confer resistance to phagocytosis, and b) contain protective (opsonic) epitopes. The best evidence supports the use of multivalent, type-specific, M protein-based vaccines designed to elicit bactericidal antibodies against epidemiologically significant serotypes of group A streptococci.
  • PREVENT is developing a 30-valent vaccine which will provide coverage for at least 95% of North American and 90% of European GAS infections, as well as significant protection in the rest of the world.
  • GAS vaccine development is in collaboration with Vaxent Inc. Vaxent which is an early stage vaccine development company located in Memphis, Tennessee, whose lead product in development is a subunit vaccine against group A streptococcus which has been tested in early stage human clinical trials.
    http://innovamemphis.com/joomla-overview/62-vaxent
  • Phase I clinical study initiation in 2013.
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Chlamydia Vaccine

Chlamydia Vaccine

Technology Platform: Infectious Disease

PREVENT and the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control are collaborating to develop a vaccine targeting Chlamydia trachomatis. The project has utilized immunoproteomics sequence analysis and experimentation to select lead vaccine candidates. Pre-clinical studies will be completed in 2015 to be followed by human clinical trials.

  • Worldwide Chlamydia trachomatis is responsible for over 92 million sexually transmitted infections and 85 million ocular infections annually. In Canada, C. trachomatis is the most common reportable communicable disease with near 10,000 cases reported annually in British Columbia (BC) alone. One in ten women in N. America has a Chlamydia infection.
  • Public health programs have targeted C. trachomatis as a major problem because of the ability of the organism to cause long-term sequelae such as infertility, ectopic pregnancy and blindness. In developed countries, public health measures to prevent and control Chlamydia appear to be failing as case rates continue to rise and efforts to control Chlamydia are not feasible using current approaches.
  • Using an immunoproteomics approach several Chlamydia proteins were identified which have the potential to form the basis of a protective vaccine; further sequence analysis and experimentation has led to the selection of lead vaccine candidates.
  • Chlamydia vaccine development is in collaboration with the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC). The BCCDC provides provincial and national leadership in public health through surveillance, detection, treatment, prevention and consultation services. The Centre provides both direct diagnostic and treatment services for people with diseases of public health importance and analytical and policy support to all levels of government and health authorities.
    www.bccdc.ca
  • Pre-clinical non-human primate studies will be completed in 2015 prior to any decision to proceed to clinical trials.
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Influenza-PAL Vaccine

Influenza-PAL Vaccine

Technology Platform: Adjuvant Technology

PREVENT, in collaboration with Folia Biotech, is developing an influenza vaccine that is combined with a novel adjuvant designed to enhance the immune response and broaden serotype coverage. Phase I clinical study initiation for this vaccine is scheduled for 2013.

  • This platform combines influenza vaccine with a novel adjuvant to enhance the immune response.
  • The PAL adjuvant is based on the immunogenic potential of recombinant viral-like particles (rVLDs) derived from a papaya plant virus which, when combined with the appropriate antigen, stimulates both the innate and the adaptive immune systems.
  • The PAL-Flu vaccine appears to generate a stronger immune response to influenza and to provide broader protection covering flu strains that are not contained in the annual seasonal tri-valent vaccine.
  • Flu-PAL development is in collaboration with Folia Biotech, which is a Canadian biotechnology company whose core technology is vaccine enhancement through a remarkable new adjuvant derived from the coat protein of the papaya mosaic virus (PapMV).
    www.foliabiotech.com
  • Phase I clinical study initiation in 2013.
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RSV-P3 Vaccine

RSV-P3 Vaccine

Technology Platform: Adjuvant Technology

PREVENT in collaboration with the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization/International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac), is developing a vaccine that combines the RSV F-protein immunogen with a novel adjuvant. Phase l clinical study is slated to begin in early 2014.

  • Apart from the selective use of a passive antibody for high-risk infants, there is currently no approved vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). RSV is a leading cause of severe respiratory disease, particularly in infants but also in the elderly.
  • PREVENT’s product combines the RSV F-protein immunogen with a patented defined novel adjuvant that stimulates a balanced immune response involving both virus neutralizing antibodies and cell-mediated immunity.
  • RSV-P3 development is in collaboration with the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization/International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac). VIDO is a non-profit research organization within the University of Saskatchewan, and is focused on investigating the pathogenesis of infectious diseases and the development of effective therapeutic and prophylactic methods to control infectious diseases of humans and animals.
    www.vido.org
  • Phase I clinical study initiation in early 2014.
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CWD Vaccine

CWD Vaccine

Technology Platform: Misfolding Disease

PREVENT, VIDO, and the University of British Columbia (UBC) are collaborating to develop a vaccine for CWD composed of a recombinant chimeric protein fused to an inactivated bacterial toxin. A challenge study in Elk will be initiated in late 2013.

  • The emergence of prion-based chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Canada threatens both wild and farmed cervids (deer, elk, caribou, moose) populations. It is not unreasonable to expect that uncontrolled disease will eventually spread across species. CWD in cervids may act as a disease reservoir for either direct, or indirect, transmission to traditional livestock, which would have a devastating impact on the livestock industry, and disease in the migrating caribou herds would expand the CWD range across the entire country. Also, wild cervids are a traditional food source in northern populations so spread into northern moose and caribou could place additional economic and cultural stress on these communities. Although CWD is currently thought to be restricted to cervids, and there is no direct evidence of transmission to humans, the potential to infect humans exists. Unlike the recent BSE outbreak, CWD cannot be dealt with by simply controlling feed additives. CWD exists in wild populations that cannot be effectively contained or segregated from livestock; the disease agent can persist in the environment for decades without a host.
  • This program was initiated following the discovery that the YYR epitope is specifically exposed on misfolded prions and hidden in the normal form and that antibodies to YYR can block prion infectivity.
  • The vaccine product is a recombinant chimeric protein consisting of several repeats of an epitope exposed on misfolded prions presented as a recombinant C-terminal fusion to an inactivated bacterial toxin which helps amplify the immune response.
  • CWD vaccine development is in collaboration with VIDO and University of British Columbia (UBC). VIDO is a non-profit research organization at the University of Saskatchewan, and is focused on investigating the pathogenesis of infectious diseases and the development of effective therapeutic and prophylactic methods to control infectious diseases of humans and animals. The University of British Columbia (UBC), established in 1908, is one of Canada’s leading research universities and is consistently ranked among the top 40 in the world.
    www.vido.org
    www.ubc.ca
  • A disease challenge study in Elk will be initiated in late 2013.
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ALS Vaccine

ALS Vaccine

Technology Platform: Misfolding Disease

PREVENT and Amorfix are in collaboration to develop a vaccine for Amyotrophic Lateral Scherosis. Disease specific epitopes (DSEs) have been identified in superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) from ALS patients and these form the basis of the vaccine. Pre-clinical studies are set to be completed in late 2014, and from this data a candidate will be selected for clinical studies that will begin in 2015.

  • Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) kills about 10,000 individuals a year in North America. Treatments for ALS are primarily symptomatic, the sole exception being riluzole, an oral drug that slows ALS by about 10% typically extending life by 2-3 months. Familial ALS, and possibly sporadic ALS, can be caused by mutations in the gene encoding superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), a free radical defense enzyme.
  • The formation and propagation of aggregated misfolded proteins (AMP) is emerging as a unifying concept in a number of diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), as well as prion diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), scrapie in sheep, chronic wasting disease (CWD) in cervids and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans.
  • Disease specific epitopes (DSEs) have been identified in SOD1 from ALS patients and these form the basis of the vaccine.
  • ALS vaccine development is in collaboration with Amorfix, which is a Life Sciences Ltd is a theranostics company developing therapeutic products and diagnostic devices targeting misfolded protein diseases including ALS, cancer, and Alzheimer's Disease.
    www.amorfix.com
  • Pre-clinical studies should be completed in 2014 to select a candidate for clinical studies in 2015.
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