ABINGDON, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Emergex Vaccines Holding Limited (‘Emergex’), a company tackling major global infectious disease threats through the development of synthetic ‘set point’ vaccines which prime the T cell immune response, today announces that it has significantly strengthened its technology platform and formed US subsidiary, Emergex USA, by acquiring the laboratories, technology and assets of US-based biotech ImmProNano Inc. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
ImmProNano (IPN), based in Doylestown, PA is a specialist contract research organization in the field of Human Leukocyte Antigen T cell immunology and immunoproteomics, utilizing state of the art mass-spectrometry to determine Class I major histocompatibility complex expression libraries of viral infected cells. These libraries are critical to the development of vaccines to high pathogen viruses and intracellular bacteria. IPN also has unparalleled expertise in the T cell immunology of infectious disease and T cell vaccine development.
IPN has completed all pre-clinical testing in animals and ex vivo human samples for Emergex’s recent vaccine programs including Francisella tularensis, Yellow fever, Zika, Dengue, Influenza and COVID-19.
ImmProNano’s laboratory facilities and key employees will now form Emergex’s US subsidiary. The team will continue to work closely with Emergex’s state of the art UK R&D facility and also form critical interactions with Emergex’s other vaccine collaborators at George Mason University, USA and the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology of Singapore (A*STAR).
Storme Moore-Thornicroft, co-founder and COO of Emergex, commented: “ImmProNano has been a trusted partner for several years, their deep expertise in T cell immunology complementing our novel approach to vaccine development. This acquisition establishes a US base and brings together key elements of the vaccine development process in-house, an important next step as we look to advance promising vaccine candidates in areas including Dengue Fever, pandemic flu and other globally important infectious diseases. The critical need for the ability to develop and manufacture potent vaccines in a timely and cost-effective manner has never been clearer and today’s agreement ensures Emergex is well placed to meet this goal.”
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About Emergex
Emergex, a UK-based biotechnology company headquartered in Abingdon, UK, is pioneering the development of synthetic ‘set point’ vaccines which prime the T cell immune response to address some of the world’s most immediate health threats such as Dengue Fever, Zika, Ebola, pandemic flu and serious intra-cellular bacterial infections.
These set-point vaccines modify the initial immune status of recipients in a way that ‘primes’ their immune systems to recognise subsequent infectious agents much like a natural infection would do, preventing an acute or severe manifestation of the disease.
Emergex combines validated technologies together with the very latest scientific insights to develop its vaccines, including using synthetic peptide codes determined on actual infected cells and using a proprietary gold nanoparticle carrier system for programming.
The Company has a growing pipeline of vaccine candidates. The most advanced development programme is a vaccine for Dengue Fever, which may also be disease modifying for other Flaviviruses such as the Zika and Yellow Fever viruses. Emergex also has programmes in development for a universal Influenza vaccine and a universal Filovirus vaccine (including viruses such as Ebola and Marburg) and discovery programmes for a Yellow Fever Booster vaccine and a Chikungunya vaccine.
Emergex has partnered with the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) of Singapore to develop a vaccine for the emerging threat of Hand, Foot and Mouth (HFM) disease and has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Brazil-based Oswaldo Cruz Foundation ‘Fiocruz’ for the development of viral vaccines. This initially covers the development of a vaccine that universally targets diseases within the flavivirus family such as Dengue Fever, Zika and Yellow Fever but could be expanded to include the development of vaccines to target other viral families that are endemic to the region.
Find out more online at www.emergexvaccines.com.