RCS - Frontier IP Group - The Vaccine Group completes Lassa fever project

Frontier IPAnnouncement

05/12/2022 07:00

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RNS Number : 5006I  Frontier IP Group plc  05 December 2022

Reach - a non-regulatory announcement

AIM: FIPP

05 December 2022

 

Frontier IP Group Plc

("Frontier IP" or the "Group")

 

 

Portfolio news - The Vaccine Group successfully completes DARPA-funded
transmissible Lassa fever project

 

 

Frontier IP, a specialist in commercialising intellectual property, is
delighted to note the following announcement that portfolio company The
Vaccine Group ("TVG" or the "Company") has successfully completed a project to
develop a transmissible vaccine for use in the rats that spread Lassa fever to
reduce its threat to humans.

 

A small-scale trial of a candidate vaccine in controlled conditions has shown
the vaccine can be transmitted between rats, significantly improve their
immunity to the disease and reduce its spread between them. Technology with
the potential to scale up the vaccine for commercial production was also
developed as part of the project.

 

The work was funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
("DARPA") and involved TVG collaborating with academic partners from around
the world. It was led by University of California, Davis ("UC Davis").

 

TVG is developing vaccines based on safe forms of cytomegaloviruses (CMV),
members of the herpesvirus family. The project identified and isolated a
strain of CMV unique to the rats for use as a vaccine vector. Antigens to the
Lassa fever virus were then inserted into the CMV to create the candidate
vaccine. This spread between the rats, carried by the CMV vector. The project
partners also created a computer model to predict the impact of Lassa fever
control interventions.

 

Other herpesvirus-based vaccines TVG is developing include those to combat
COVID-19, African swine fever, Streptococcus suis, a disease in pigs that can
cause meningitis in humans, and Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome
virus, in collaboration with ECO Animal Health Group plc and The Pirbright
Institute.

 

Neil Crabb, Frontier IP Chief Executive Officer, said: "The success of this
project provides strong vindication for TVG's herpesvirus-based vaccine
technology. Transmissible vaccines have the potential to tackle a range of
zoonotic threats emerging in wild animal reservoirs, and we are looking
forward to seeing further progress on Lassa fever. "

 

 

The Vaccine Group statement begins:

 

TVG successfully completes DARPA-funded transmissible Lassa fever vaccine
project

Most emerging infectious diseases affecting humans in the last century
originated in animal reservoirs and are defined as zoonotic. Lassa fever is a
significant zoonotic disease threat to human health in eight West African
countries with between an estimated 100,000 to 300,000 cases of disease each
year, of which about 5,000 are fatal(1).

The reservoir of the Lassa fever virus that causes the disease is a specific
rodent population, the mastomys or multimammate rat. In collaboration with
global academic partners, TVG recently came to the end of a successful
project, led by UC Davis, California and funded by DARPA, to develop a
transmissible vaccine to prevent Lassa fever virus circulation in the mastomys
rat wildlife reservoir.

The project started in April 2019 and had three objectives:

-      To understand the virus ecology in wild mastomys rat populations
in W Africa, especially cytomegaloviruses (CMV) and Lassa fever virus

-      To create a computer model to use as a tool to predict the outcome
of Lassa Fever control interventions in wild mastomys rats

-      To develop a transmissible vaccine for use in wild mastomys rat
populations for the control of Lassa fever circulation and to reduce the risk
of human spillover.

All objectives were completed successfully. It was shown that Lassa fever
virus is circulating in mastomys rat populations in West Africa and a
species-specific CMV was isolated and shown to be widespread in these
populations.

The isolated CMV strains have been down-selected based upon growth parameters
in vitro, and a candidate vector strain selected for use as a viral vector for
the vaccine candidate. Two potentially protective antigens were identified
from Lassa Fever virus, and their respective genes codon optimised and
inserted into two locations in the CMV vector.

A lead candidate was selected with a transgene inserted into a single site in
the CMV vaccine vector. In addition, a continuous cell line with the potential
for commercial scale production of the vaccine was developed from mastomys rat
tissues.

A small-scale trial batch of the candidate vaccine was used in controlled
studies under Category 4 Biosecurity and was shown to be immunogenic in
inoculated animals and transmissible to naïve co-housed cagemates.

Most recently the vaccine was shown to reduce Lassa fever virus infection and
excretion after challenge at highly significant levels. In addition, the
vaccine is constructed to achieve the necessary level of Lassa virus immunity
before gradually losing the Lassa virus gene, which restores the vaccine to
naturally occurring wild type CMV already present in animals.

Future work will use the vaccine challenge study data to refine the computer
model developed to predict the outcomes of Lassa fever control interventions.
Next steps will include further controlled vaccine transmission and efficacy
studies, technical transfer of the vaccine production system to a
manufacturing partner for scale-up and pilot field studies in Lassa Fever
virus-endemic regions.

Continued engagement with stakeholders with an interest in the control of
Lassa fever in W Africa will be important to identify the environment in which
the tools developed by this project can be deployed.

Jeremy Salt, TVG Chief Executive Officer, said: "This is a highly successful
project that has delivered a range of tools that can be taken forward as part
of a control programme for Lassa fever in West Africa. From a standing start
in 2019 the global project team has pooled resources to enable the development
of a candidate vaccine developed from a cytomegalovirus strain that was not
even available before the project began. The team has created a thorough
understanding of the viral ecology in the mastomys rat population in the
region where Lassa fever is endemic. Combining this data has led to an
informed computer model for assessment of intervention strategies to aid in
the control of this important zoonotic viral pathogen in West Africa."

 

 

(1)US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/lassa/index.html
(https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/lassa/index.html)

 

 

The Vaccine Group statement ends

 

ENQUIRIES

 

 

 Frontier IP Group Plc                                                      T: 020 7332 2338
 Neil Crabb, Chief Executive Officer                                        neil@frontierip.co.uk

 Andrew Johnson, Communications and investor relations                      M: 07464 546 025

 andrew.johnson@frontierip.co.uk (mailto:andrew.johnson@frontierip.co.uk)

 Company website: www.frontierip.co.uk (http://www.frontierip.co.uk/)
 The Vaccine Group

 Jeremy Salt, Chief Executive Officer                                       jeremy.salt@thevaccinegroup.com

 Allenby Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser)                                T: 0203 328 5656

 Nick Athanas / George Payne

ABOUT THE VACCINE GROUP

The Vaccine Group, a spin out from the University of Plymouth, is developing
vaccines based on benign forms of herpesviruses. These are a group of viruses
found in all animals, including humans.

The Company is targeting two main areas: zoonotic diseases, which jump from
animals to humans, and economically damaging diseases in livestock. The
COVID-19 vaccine is the first of the company's vaccines being developed for
humans.

The Company and its international partners have so far been backed by more
than £9 million in grant funding from the US, UK and Chinese
governments. The US government is funding development of Ebola and Lassa
fever virus vaccines. The company has also signed its first commercial
agreement to develop vaccines for Porcine Respiratory and Reproductive Virus
Syndrome with ECO Animal Health Group plc.

Other projects underway include developing a vaccine against Streptococcus
suis, a disease in pigs which can be fatal in humans and can only currently
be treated with large doses of antibiotics.

For more information: www.thevaccinegroup.com (http://www.thevaccinegroup.com)

ABOUT FRONTIER IP

Frontier IP unites science and commerce by identifying strong intellectual
property and accelerating its development through a range of commercialisation
services. A critical part of the Group's work is involving relevant industry
partners at an early stage of development to ensure technology meets real
world demands and needs.

The Group looks to build and grow a portfolio of equity stakes and licence
income by taking an active involvement in spin-out companies, including
support for fund raising and collaboration with relevant industry partners at
an early stage of development.

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