NanoBio receives US$10m from NIH to develop pandemic flu vaccine

US biopharmaceutical firm NanoBio Corporation has been awarded an initial contract worth US$5.5m from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to develop a nanoemulsion (NE) adjuvant for use with a pandemic influenza vaccine. The total contract is valued at approximately $10.5m, if all options are exercised.

The funding will support the research and development of NanoVax-Panflu, which combines NanoBio's proprietary NE adjuvant with a plant-based recombinant H5 pandemic influenza antigen. This adjuvanted vaccine has the potential to provide enhanced protection against infection by eliciting both mucosal and systemic immunity. Various research efforts have concluded that achieving mucosal immunity is critical for pathogens that enter the body across mucosal surfaces causing respiratory infections and sexually transmitted diseases.

'Our most recent studies at NanoBio have tested NE-adjuvanted vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and type 2 genital herpes (HSV2), two viruses that enter the body via mucosal sites,' said David Peralta, Chief Executive of NanoBio. 'The results of these studies very clearly demonstrate the ability of the NE adjuvant to elicit mucosal immunity and the important role this type of immunity plays in protecting against disease.'

The funding includes a future option to test the NE adjuvant with an HIV vaccine.

Peralta added: 'With this contract support from NIAID, we will further our studies of the NE adjuvant and its important role in enhancing vaccines against challenging respiratory infections and sexually transmitted diseases. We look forward to moving our NanoVax-Panflu vaccine towards the clinic and on the path to commercialisation.'

NanoBio's NanoStat technology platform employs a novel oil-in-water nanoemulsion that can incorporate, deliver and adjuvant multiple antigen types.