GeoVax Labs Inc (GOVX)

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GOVX: News.


PlasmaVoice:Feb.,2017

GeoVax’s approach to Zika vaccine development uses a recombinant Modified Vaccinia Ankara virus (MVA) viral vector to produce virus-like particles (VLPs) in the person being vaccinated. The production of VLPs in the person being vaccinated mimics a natural infection, stimulating the immune system to recognize, prevent, and control the target infection.

In human clinical trials of the company’s HIV vaccines (which have completed Phase IIa trials), GeoVax has demonstrated that MVA-VLPs are safe and can elicit strong and durable antibody and cellular immune responses to fight HIV infections.

For the Zika virus (ZIKV), GeoVax is working in collaborations with the University of Georgia Research Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control.

With the CDC, the company has developed an animal model and has performed mouse efficacy studies. ZIKV and reagents will be supplied by the University of Texas Medical Branch.

MVA has been safely administered to 120,000 humans in Germany in a campaign for eradication of smallpox in the 60s and later as a vector for delivery of other vaccines including HIV, malaria and tuberculosis, says Farshad Guirakhoo, Ph.D., chief scientific officer of GeoVax.

“Our Zika vaccine has shown 100% protection against death in a mouse model after a single inoculation,” he says. “MVA has been adapted to replicate in chickens, so when it is used in humans as a vector for delivery of other vaccine target antigens, the virus can’t reproduce infectious progeny to spread in the host, making it highly safe for people.”

Unlike other companies that are using viruses to create a Zika vaccine, Inovio is developing a DNA-based monoclonal antibody. This DNA-based monoclonal antibody technology has the potential to lead to products that can be designed and manufactured on a large scale using common fermentation technology. Inovio’s DNA-based immunotherapy platform can target both immediate therapy through delivery of dMAb products as well as long-term immunity via DNA vaccination.



LINK
http://www.pharmavoice.com/article/2017-2-zika-research/