Emergent BioSolutions and Oxford University form TB Vaccine jv
The University of Oxford and Emergent BioSolutions Inc have formed The Oxford-Emergent Tuberculosis Consortium Ltd (OETC), a joint venture to further develop MVA85A, vaccine candidate for the prevention of tuberculosis.
The University of Oxford and Emergent BioSolutions Inc have formed The Oxford-Emergent Tuberculosis Consortium Ltd (OETC), a joint venture to further develop MVA85A, vaccine candidate for the prevention of tuberculosis.
The University of Oxford, through its technology transfer office, Isis Innovation Ltd, has exclusively licensed the MVA85A tuberculosis vaccine candidate and related technology to OETC.
OETC will work with the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation to evaluate the efficacy of MVA85A in infants in a Phase IIb clinical trial anticipated to begin in 2009. The trial will take place at a clinical trial site developed by Aeras and the University of Cape Town's South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (SATVI) in Worcester, South Africa.
OETC has secured £8 m ($16 m) from The Wellcome Trust and the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation to fund this Phase IIb trial.
Under agreement, Emergent BioSolutions has the rights to commercialise the MVA85A vaccine. The Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation will have distribution rights in the developing world to ensure availability and access to the vaccine to those who need it.
The MVA85A vaccine candidate is designed to work in tandem with the Bacille Calmette Guerin vaccine (BCG), which is currently the only available vaccine against tuberculosis. BCG is administered to infants throughout the developing world and in certain countries in the developed world. However, BCG provides only variable protection against pulmonary tuberculosis and is not effective in adults.
The MVA85A vaccine candidate is intended to augment the response of T-cells already primed by the BCG vaccine. Clinical trials to date have demonstrated consistently high cellular immune responses in those who received the MVA85A vaccine candidate following vaccination with BCG. The MVA85A vaccine has been awarded orphan drug status by EMEA and is the most clinically advanced of a new generation of tuberculosis vaccine candidates.
Mauro Gibellini, senior vice president corporate development, Emergent BioSolutions, said, "This unique public-private partnership provides Emergent BioSolutions with an extraordinary opportunity to address a major public health crisis. We believe that by pooling our resources and expertise with such distinguished academic and charitable peers, this consortium is well-positioned to develop what would be a groundbreaking vaccine to prevent one of the world's most widespread diseases and tragic causes of death."