Yisheng Biopharma and the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases to develop Ebola vaccine
Will evaluate novel double-stranded TLR3 agonist adjuvant technology (PIKA) for Ebola and other vaccine candidates
Chinese biopharmaceutical firm Yisheng Biopharma, a developer of vaccine products, is to collaborate with the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) to develop a new vaccine against the Ebola virus.
Under the terms of the agreement, the scientists at USAMRIID will evaluate the potential of novel double-stranded RNA-based Toll-Like Receptor 3 (TLR3) agonist adjuvant technology (PIKA) for Ebola or other vaccine candidates.
The PIKA adjuvant is a proprietary technology developed by Yisheng Biopharma, named as part of 'National Key Medicine Innovation' in 2013 by the National Ministry of Science and Technology of China. Yisheng's PIKA rabies vaccine recently entered a Phase II clinical study.
'USAMRIID has gained a great deal of experience with using vaccine adjuvants,' said Sina Bavari, Science Director at USAMRIID. 'TLR-3 agonists such as the PIKA adjuvant are known to enhance immune responses.'
Yi Zhang, Chairman of Yisheng Biopharma and the project leader of PIKA adjuvant technology, said: 'Our PIKA adjuvant has exhibited broad potential to be a revolutionary innovation as a series of novel vaccines based on this technology are under preclinical and clinical investigations against rabies, HIV, Hepatitis-B, influenza, tuberculosis, and other viruses, which could significantly change the clinical practice paradigms against many human and animal virus infections. We are looking forward to updating the progress on these fronts in due course.'
