Chimeron Bio Enters Into an Agreement With the NIAID, a Federal Agency, for Pre-clinical Assessment of Its Self-Amplifying COVID-19 Vaccine

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Chimeron Bio, an RNA company developing self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) vaccines and therapeutics designed on its proprietary ChaESAR^TM RNA delivery platform, today announced it has signed a Non-Clinical Evaluation Agreement (NCEA) with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to evaluate the potential of its vaccine for COVID-19. The Company’s lead candidate, CB-106, delivers the Spike gene as a self-amplifying mRNA. Preliminary data on this vaccine obtained in collaboration with George Mason University, demonstrated positive results in pre-clinical models with nanogram quantities of RNA, a significant dose advantage over other RNA based technologies. In addition to CB-106, other ChaESAR candidates under testing by the Company include particles co-delivering multi-variant antigens for viral and non-viral vaccines for broad spectrum protection.

Under the current agreement, Chimeron Bio will utilize the pre-clinical services program offered by the NIAID. Chimeron Bio will provide the vaccine candidate to test in the hamster model of COVID-19 which has previously been used for the assessment of other COVID-19 vaccines. “A successful outcome from this study will further validate ChaESAR™ technology in pre-clinical models and boost the design of a next generation single shot RNA vaccine that is durable, low dose, low cost, scalable and can render broad-spectrum protection against multiple variants or infectious agents,” said Thimmaiah Chendrimada, Co-founder and CSO of Chimeron Bio.

"We are grateful to receive NIAID's support and work with NIAID funded world-class institutions. The COVID-19 program is Chimeron's first foray into infectious diseases, and we expect the data from the current study to offer critical validation to advance CB-106 into non-human primates and demonstrate the applicability of ChaESAR™ technology for vaccines at large," said Jolly Mazumdar, Co-founder and CEO of Chimeron Bio.

About Chimeron Bio
Chimeron Bio is a biotechnology company focused on the development of self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) therapeutics and vaccines across therapeutic areas. The company is using its proprietary ChaESAR^TM platform to develop a pipeline of products in oncology, rare genetic disorders, and infectious diseases. For more information, visit www.chimeron.com.