Considered a medical boon, vaccination is the most efficient way to prevent a disease outbreak. History has witnessed the eradication of diseases such as polio, smallpox etc. However, at present there is a growing distrust amongst the individuals regarding the safety of the vaccines. People who support anti-vaccine movement opine that there is a link between autism and Measles-MumpsRubella vaccine.
The anti-vaccine movement has risen in a scenario when the world is searching for ways to prevent the deadly disease outbreaks by viruses like Ebola, Zika, Influenza etc. Many pharmaceutical companies are looking at strengthening their R&D infrastructure, in order to develop vaccines for such deadly disease outbreaks. The World Health Organisation (WHO) also has launched an Initiative for Vaccine Research (IVR) with an aim to facilitate the development and introduction of safe, effective and affordable vaccines.
The Asia Pacific Region is said to dominate the vaccines market. Novel attenuated strains of measles, mumps, hepatitis A, rotavirus and intra nasally delivered pandemic H1N1 virus have been derived for products distributed principally within the region. The demand is also because there is a large proportion of adults in Asia which is disease-prone.
Many countries in the Asia-pacific region have developed the vaccines for various disease outbreaks. Although Japan is considered as the innovator of vaccines which are used internationally, countries like China, India, Australia and Vietnam are not far behind. Bharat Biotech, a vaccine manufacturer of a developing nation India, has developed a Zika vaccine candidate. The candidate Zika vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech is inactivated virus vaccine developed using an African strain of the virus. The vaccine when tested in mice, conferred 100% protection against infection caused by the contemporary Asian strains as well. The vaccine is now undergoing Phase 1 clinical trials in India. CPL Biologicals, another Indian company which launched world’s first VLP based Influenza vaccines in India has collaborated with the clinical stage biotechnology company Novavax Inc., USA. As part of this joint venture partnership, CPL Biologicals has access to Novavax’s proprietary Virus Like Particles (VLPs), recombinant nanoparticles and adjuvant technologies. CPL Biologicals is developing novel and innovative vaccines based on these technologies utilizing the Sf9/baculovirus (BV) expression platform.
"Our carefully designed genetic constructs allow us to tailor the vaccines to key components of pathogens, which we believe enhances functional immunity and leads to better protection against infection and disease. Our Sf9/BV platform efficiently expresses large antigens and particles, which in turn promote superior immunogenicity and better functional immunity. Our manufacturing platform can produce proteins that are properly folded and modified, which can be critical for functional, protective immunity. Unlike traditional vaccine manufacturing, we do not need to grow an actual virus. Our platform technology is completely recombinant, enabling us to manufacture the vaccines against highly pathogenic targets such that no infectious agents are required, there is no requirements for higher BSL facilities and, therefore, no safety threats," Atin Tomar, President & CEO, CPL Biologicals said.
Genocea Biosciences, a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Cambridge, MA, has successfully developed a genital herpes vaccine. While traditional immunotherapy discovery methods have largely used predictive means to propose T cell targets, or antigens, Genocea has successfully developed AnTigen Lead Acquisition System (ATLAS) to identify clinically relevant antigens of T cells, potentially increasing the likelihood of successful clinical development of vaccines and immunotherapies.
Gen-003 an investigational immunotherapy to treat genital herpes is made using this technology. GEN-003 was designed to elicit both a targeted T cell and B cell (antibody) immune response in patients with genital herpes. Genocea is currently finishing up its Phase 2 program on GEN-003, and recently had a successful end of Phase 2 meeting with the FDA. The company expects to announce the 12-month placebo-controlled clinical results from the Phase 2b trial for the expected Phase 3 endpoint in the middle of 2017. Genocea plans to have GEN-003 re...
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