March 11, 2021 -- PDS Biotechnology announced it has received a $60 million commitment to begin clinical testing and commercialization of a second-generation COVID-19 vaccine in Brazil. A phase II/III trial is currently under review by the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency and is anticipated to begin by the second or third quarter of 2021.
The majority of the capital provided by Brazil's Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation will fund the manufacturing process scale up, production, and the phase III trial, pending the results of the phase I/II trial. PDS Biotech's vaccine consortium, which includes Farmacore Biotechnology and Blanver Farmoquímica, will work under a mutually agreed work plan to guide the vaccine efficiently through development in compliance with regulatory standards.
The vaccine is based on the company's proprietary Versamune T-cell activating technology platform, which delivers disease-specific antigens for in vivo uptake and processing. The vaccine activates the critical type 1 interferon immunological pathway, which results in the production of potent disease-specific killer T cells as well as neutralizing antibodies.