HONG KONG, May 1, 2020 (Newswire.com) – Pacific GeneTech (PGT), a biologics company that develops and commercializes next-generation vaccines for areas of high unmet or underserved needs in animal health and food safety, is collaborating with Rhode Island-based EpiVax, an informatics & immunology company, to develop a novel vaccine for African Swine Fever.
African Swine Fever (ASF) is a highly contagious hemorrhagic disease affecting both domestic and wild pigs. This disease has resulted in more than 100 million pigs either dying from the disease or being culled. There is currently no effective vaccine or treatment for ASF, and all of the multiple attempts over several years to develop an effective vaccine have been unsuccessful.
PGT and EpiVax are developing a novel vaccine aimed at reducing ASF infection and reducing mortality. The vaccine is based on proprietary viral epitopes most likely to provide both potent and cross-protective efficacy against ASF. The PGT and EpiVax approach also includes a combination of a heterologous, prime boost vaccination regimen to generate a potent cell-mediated response and a robust humoral antibody response. PGT and EpiVax believe their approach will be effective in slowing and potentially stopping the spread of the virulent ASF virus.
EpiVax has developed novel tools for developing highly immunogenic vaccines for humans and swine. These tools have also been used to select the best strains of circulating viruses for making vaccines. As part of its partnership with EpiVax, PGT will collaborate with its global animal health network to conduct an extensive multi-site trial program against multiple genotypes of ASF virus and to bring the vaccine to market.
ABOUT PACIFIC GENETECH
Pacific GeneTech (www.pacificgenetech.com) develops and commercializes next-generation vaccines and biologics for areas of high unmet needs in food safety and animal health. PGT’s proprietary “Aegis” vaccine platform combines cross-protective antigens and immunopotentiators in vectors for broad spectrum protection against multiple strains and species of infectious diseases. The PGT vaccines can be administered orally or by injection in both live and inactivated forms. PGT’s “Hercules” adjuvant/delivery system provides enhanced efficacy of inactivated vaccines. PGT has out-licensed two of its leading poultry vaccines addressing economically important gastro-intestinal pathogens and has out-licensed its Hercules adjuvant for use in third-party vaccines. PGT, through its affiliate company, PGTx, has commenced programs with collaborators addressing human dysentery and malaria.
ABOUT EPIVAX
EpiVax (www.epivax.com) is a 22-year-old privately held biotechnology company located in Providence, Rhode Island. Scientists at EpiVax, led by co-founders Annie De Groot, MD and Bill Martin, lead in the fields of immunogenicity risk assessment and computational vaccinology with expertise in T cell epitope prediction, immune modulation, and rapid vaccine design. EpiVax’s broad portfolio of projects includes vaccines and immunotherapies for infectious diseases, autoimmunity and cancer. EpiVax’s proprietary in silico immunogenicity screening toolkits for therapeutics and vaccines, ISPRI and iVAX, are employed in advancing the research of a global roster of companies.
Contact
Tim Collard, CEO
Tel: +852 2525 8151
Email: [email protected]
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