VICTORIA, BC, Sept. 25, 2020 /CNW/ - IMMUNOPRECISE
ANTIBODIES LTD. ("IPA") (TSXV: IPA) (OTCQB: IPATF) (FSE: TQB2), a
leader in full-service, therapeutic antibody discovery and
development, and LiteVax BV (Oss, the
Netherlands), today announced that they have initiated
pre-clinical vaccine trials against SARS-CoV-2. Vaccine design was
based on large sets of data obtained during the analysis of IPA's
SARS-CoV-2 therapeutic programs. Using this information,
ImmunoPrecise designed data-driven, well-defined SARS-CoV-2 spike
protein variant vaccine candidates that were combined with a novel
class of synthetic carbohydrate derivatives, designed to act as a
vaccine adjuvant, with the final formulations aimed at high
efficacy and low adverse effects.
The collaborative, pre-clinical study is ongoing at IRTA
(Catalonia, Spain) and is focusing
on the feasibility of a single-low-dose administration to assess
the safety and tolerability of the vaccine formulations. In
parallel to the pre-clinical study, which is supported through
TRANSVAC2 (EC-funded project, grant agreement N° 730964), IPA
and LiteVax are initiating relevant ex vivo assays. The
study results will be compiled by November
2020 and will allow the companies to prioritize subsets of
ideal vaccine candidates for further development.
IPA's vaccine design takes into account significant, compiled
data on the human immune response to SARS-CoV-2, as well as data
gained through the scrutiny of IPA's collective SARS studies. The
companies expect that the combination of IPA's vaccine with
LiteVax's adjuvant technology, designed to specifically enhance the
host's immune response, will have a significant impact toward a
successful single-low-dose vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. This first
pre-clinical study enables the design of more extensive challenge
studies.
"IPA has compiled tremendous amounts of in vitro and
in silico data, which generated expansive datasets used to
inform this study. Our belief is that comprehensive analyses of the
data from this trial, including a thorough characterization of the
resulting immune responses, will help advance our aim of bringing
safe and efficacious products to the clinic", stated Dr.
Jennifer Bath, CEO and President of
ImmunoPrecise. She added: "We are pleased to collaborate on this
initial vaccine trial, which is expected to be followed by our
PolyTope formulation within the year".
The Company is not making any express or implied claims that its
product has the ability to eliminate, cure or contain COVID-19 (or
SARS-CoV-2) at this time.
About TRANSVAC
TRANSVAC2 is a European vaccine
research and development (R&D) infrastructure that aims to
accelerate the development of safe, effective and affordable
vaccines, which are one of the most successful and cost-effective
public health tools for disease prevention. However, vaccine
development is time-consuming and complex, requiring a combination
of specialized skills and technical capacities not readily
available at a single organization. In order to facilitate access
to these skills and capacities, and to promote collaborations in
the European vaccine landscape, TRANSVAC2 offers high quality
technical services across four different service platforms:
Technology (for process development and GMP production),
Immunocorrelates & Systems Biology, Animal models, and support
for Clinical Trials. For further information on the project
and support provided please visit www.transvac.org.
TRANSVAC2 has received funding from the European Union's Horizon
2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement N°
730964.
About IRTA
IRTA is a research institute dedicated to
agro-alimentary R&D&I within the areas of vegetal and
animal production, agri-food industries, environment and global
change, and economy. Transfer of IRTA scientific advances
contribute to modernity, competitivity and sustainable development
within the agrarian, food and fishery sectors, provision of healthy
food for consumers and the improvement of human welfare. IRTA is
ascribed to the Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and
Food (DARP) of the Catalan Government. http://www.irta.cat/en/
About LiteVax
LiteVax BV is a Dutch biopharmaceutical
SME with the mission to impact global health by developing and
exploiting novel immunoadjuvants to increase vaccine efficacy. New
and more effective vaccines against a wide range of infectious
diseases are needed as evidenced by the recent outbreaks. For
further information, please contact luuk.hilgers@litevax.com.
About ImmunoPrecise Antibodies Ltd.
ImmunoPrecise is a
global technology platform company with end-to-end solutions
empowering companies to discover and develop therapies against any
disease. The Company's experience and cutting-edge technologies
enable unparalleled support of its partners in their quest to bring
innovative treatments to the clinic. ImmunoPrecise's full-service
capabilities dramatically reduce the time required for, and the
inherent risk associated with, conventional multi-vendor product
development. For further information, visit www.immunoprecise.com
or contact solutions@immunoprecise.com.
Forward Looking Information
This news release
contains statements that, to the extent they are not recitations of
historical fact, may constitute "forward-looking statements" within
the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. The Company
uses words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "likely",
"expect", "believe", "intend", "should" and similar expressions to
identify forward-looking statements and include the Company's
beliefs with respect to the potential for its vaccines and/or
antibodies to be further developed or approved to protect against
and/or treat COVID-19 (or SARS-CoV-2) or to complete any
transactions with respect to those vaccines and/or antibodies.
Any such forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and
analyses made by ImmunoPrecise in light of its experience and its
perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected
future developments. However, whether actual results and
developments will conform to ImmunoPrecise's expectations and
predictions is subject to any number of risks, assumptions and
uncertainties. Many factors could cause ImmunoPrecise's actual
results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the
forward-looking statements contained in this news release. Such
factors include, among other things, actual revenues and earnings
for IPA being lower than anticipated, and those risks and
uncertainties described in ImmunoPrecise's annual management
discussion and analysis for the previous quarter ended April 30, 2020 which can be accessed at
www.sedar.com. The "forward-looking statements" contained
herein speak only as of the date of this press release and, unless
required by applicable law, ImmunoPrecise undertakes no obligation
to publicly update or revise such information, whether as a result
of new information, future events or otherwise.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX
Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release. SOURCE ImmunoPrecise Antibodies
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SOURCE ImmunoPrecise Antibodies Ltd.