VitriVax, Inc., a formulation technology company, announced a new grant of up to $5M from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). The grant will enable VitriVax to develop the Atomic Layering Thermostable Antigen and Adjuvant (ALTA®) technology further using Rabies as a vaccine target. ALTA® could replace multi-dose vaccines for protection against infectious diseases with a single-administration alternative. The company’s innovative approach in the pharma industry, known as ‘atomic layering deposition’, is used to control the release of the vaccine in the body over time.
VitriVax is partnering with Serum Institute of India to explore whether the current three-dose Rabies vaccine, RabiVax-S, can be adapted using the ALTA® platform to provide a single-administration, thermostable next-generation Rabies vaccine. The funded research will support preclinical and scale-up studies through GLP safety-toxicity testing to determine the immunogenicity, durability, and safety of the ALTA®-formulated RabiVax-S vaccine when compared to the current standard of care. If successful, the company will prepare the vaccine candidate for Phase I trials.
“CEPI funding will accelerate the advancement of our vaccine technology, particularly its application to the rabies immunization,” said Romulo Colindres, Chief Executive Officer of VitriVax. “We believe the ALTA® platform has the potential to simplify the delivery of the vaccination by providing complete multi-dose protection in a single shot, as well as eliminate the need for cold chain storage. This is especially important in remote or resource-constrained regions where rabies remains a serious threat.”
This is the latest vaccine project to be supported by CEPI’s call for vaccine innovations to tackle future epidemic and pandemic threats. Learnings from the research could be applied to other emerging infectious diseases that CEPI is focusing on, including a new or as-yet-identified ‘Disease X’, as well as other vaccine antigens and adjuvants.
“Receiving all the doses of protection you need in one go – with doses safely and slowly released over time - could be a gamechanger when it comes to effective outbreak response,” explains Dr Kent Kester, Executive Director of Vaccine Research and Development at CEPI. “As well as saving on costs, a multi-dose vaccine regimen delivered in a single shot would help ensure that more people are fully protected from a virus over time, helping to reduce the chance of repeat outbreaks and save more lives."
Further details on the announcement are available here.
About VitriVax
VitriVax, headquartered in Boulder, CO, has engineered its proprietary Atomic Layering Thermostable Antigen and Adjuvant (ALTA®) technology platform to enable thermostable, single-shot vaccines across a broad range of indications while maintaining or potentially even enhancing the immune response of vaccines. ALTA® can be applied to a wide variety of vaccine antigens and adjuvants to protect against thermal and chemical degradation, enabling controlled release and incorporating prime doses and additional booster doses in a single-shot administration. These technologies may also facilitate the co-formulation of multiple, otherwise incompatible, antigens in a single injection.
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