Abingdon based company Emergex Vaccines Holding Limited, a clinical-stage biotechnology company addressing major global infectious diseases through the development of synthetic T cell-priming vaccine candidates, announced that Emergex has received patent protection from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for its novel class of influenza vaccines that have the potential to provide long-term T cell immunity against all legacy strains of influenza A since 1918, as well as seasonal variants and heterosubtypic changes. This patent covers Emergex’s vaccine comprising in part immunogenic peptides encoded by a negative sense open reading frame (ORF) from segment 8 of the influenza A genome.
To Emergex’s knowledge, this represents the first known patent for viral peptides derived from antigenomic translation suggesting that segment 8 of influenza A is ambisense (negative and positive sense ORFs). In addition, this grants the company exclusive rights to develop a vaccine that incorporates these immune elements, offering a level of immune recognition that existing flu vaccines are unable to provide either because of composition or method of administration. This also further expands Emergex’s portfolio of approximately 100 technology inventions across various technologies and jurisdictions.
Professor Thomas Rademacher, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Emergex, commented: “Our research into NEG8 has revealed exciting potential for a new approach to influenza vaccines. We believe that a vaccine composition including conserved NEG8-derived MHC class I peptides could provide protection against past, existing, and emerging human influenza viruses, as well as prevent zoonotic influenza viruses from establishing themselves in the human population and causing a pandemic. Emergex aims to leverage this NEG8 epitope-containing vaccine to generate a durable and broadly-protective cellular immune response upon vaccination.”
Emergex is set to advance its first-in-class influenza vaccine into the clinic, with Phase I trials anticipated to begin in the first half of 2025.
About Emergex:
Emergex is a clinical-stage, privately held biotechnology company, headquartered in Abingdon, UK, with an operating subsidiary in Doylestown, Pennsylvania and a GMP manufacturing facility in Fremont, CA, USA. The Company is pioneering the development of 100% synthetic T cell-priming vaccine candidates designed to mimic the body’s natural T cell immune response to destroy and to clear pathogen-infected cells, using cytopathic or non-cytopathic mechanisms, in order to protect against some of the world’s most urgent health threats.
Image provided by Emergex Vaccines Holding Limited