Soligenix Announced Publication of Pre-Clinical Immunogenicity Studies for a Novel COVID-19 Vaccine

PR Newswire | July 29, 2020

Soligenix, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNGX) (Soligenix or the Company), a late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing products to treat rare diseases where there is an unmet medical need, announced today publication of pre-clinical immunogenicity studies for its CiVax™ program (heat stable COVID-19 vaccine), demonstrating immunity of both broad-spectrum antibody and cell-mediated, rapid onset immunity is possible using the CoVaccine HT™ (CoVaccine) adjuvant.  The article, authored by collaborators at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM), is titled, "CoVaccine HT™ adjuvant potentiates robust immune responses to recombinant SARS-CoV-2 spike-S1 immunization," and has been submitted for peer-review to the journal npj Vaccines. An accelerated preprint of the manuscript has been made available here. CiVax™ is the Company's heat stable subunit vaccine candidate for the prevention of COVID-19, the infection caused by SARS-CoV-2.  Ongoing collaborations with Axel Lehrer, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Tropical Medicine, Medical Microbiology and Pharmacology, John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM), UHM have demonstrated the feasibility of developing a broadly immunogenic vaccine for COVID-19.  With significant research dedicated worldwide to the generation of COVID-19 vaccines, it is noteworthy that the essential attributes of a vaccine successful in controlling the ongoing pandemic are believed to include the ability to rapidly stimulate a balanced antibody response, including an enhanced Th1 response, which includes raising significant virus neutralizing antibodies and potent cell-mediated immunity, demonstrated by T-cell activation.  Previous work with the CoVaccine adjuvant, which Soligenix licensed from BTG Specialty Pharmaceuticals, a division of Boston Scientific Corporation, has indicated that CoVaccine has these critical characteristics.  In these results, Lehrer and his colleagues now demonstrate these attributes of CoVaccine, specifically in the context of SARS-CoV-2.  Moreover, these results, using a prototype antigen, also demonstrate a rapid onset of immunity with antibody responses detected within 14 days after the first vaccination.

Spotlight

The discovery of nitrosamine genotoxins in several
pharmaceuticals has led to monitoring and re-evaluation of
manufacturing practices for those products considered atrisk.

Spotlight

The discovery of nitrosamine genotoxins in several
pharmaceuticals has led to monitoring and re-evaluation of
manufacturing practices for those products considered atrisk.

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