University of Michigan spin-off NanoBio has licensed a novel respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIH developed the antigen using proprietary technology. No approved vaccine for RSV currently exists; several previous RSV vaccine candidates have failed after they led to advanced respiratory disease.
“We are very pleased to secure this novel GMP antigen source for RSV. Our plan is to formulate the NIH antigen in combination with our NanoStat adjuvant technology for use as an intranasal vaccine,” commented Ali Fattom, NanoBio Senior VP of Vaccine Research and Development. “Based on our earlier mouse studies, we expect that a NanoStat adjuvanted RSV vaccine will induce robust protective immunity, without eliciting the enhanced respiratory disease that has caused other RSV vaccine candidates to fail.”
NanoBio Founder and CEO James R. Baker, Jr. emphasized the need for his company’s vaccine: “RSV remains a major cause of serious lung infections in children and the elderly. Despite the large unmet need, a safe and effective vaccine is not available today. The novel properties of our NanoStat technology — including its ability to elicit both mucosal and Th1 cellular immunity — are critical elements for overcoming the challenges seen thus far in RSV vaccine development.”
Read the NanoBio press release.
