Juvaris BioTherapeutics Announces Cooperative Research and Development Agreement With The Centers for Disease Control and ...( Collaboration with CDC to Focus o...),Health

Collaboration with CDC to Focus on Testing of Juvaris JVRS-100 as an Adjuvant with existing H5N1 vaccine for dose-sparing and cross protection

PLEASANTON, Calif., Jan. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Juvaris BioTherapeutics, Inc. announced today that The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Juvaris BioTherapeutics, Inc. have entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) for the evaluation of a JVRS-100 adjuvanted H5N1 pandemic influenza vaccine. The ability of JVRS-100 to aid in the induction of a protective antibody response to the H5N1 vaccine at low doses of vaccine will be confirmed. This collaborative study will determine if the use of the Juvaris JVRS-100 adjuvant will extend the limited supply of H5N1 vaccines in the event of a pandemic.

In preparation for the possibility of an influenza pandemic caused by an H5N1 avian influenza virus that has obtained the ability to be easily transmitted from person to person, several strains of H5N1 viruses have been used to prepare killed-virus vaccines. Vaccine trials in people testing the immunogenicity of these pre-pandemic vaccines have shown that high vaccine doses are required to produce an antibody response that is believed to be protective. In order to lower the dose of vaccine and extend the supply of available vaccine, a number of immune boosters known as adjuvants are being tested.

"Although the principal commercial value of JVRS-100 will be as a mono-immunotherapy, we are pleased to enter into this CRADA with CDC for testing of the JVRS-100 as an adjuvant for potential extension of the current supply of H5N1 vaccine," said Martin D. Cleary, Co-founder, President and CEO of Juvaris. "In preclinical studies using seasonal influenza vaccine our adjuvant can decrease the amount of vaccine necessary to induce protective antibody immunity up to fifty-fold, which would be beneficial in case of limited vaccine supply during an influenza pandemic. Furthermore, preclinic
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