June 2, 2020 -- Intravacc and EpiVax have entered a collaborative agreement to further develop a novel vaccine against COVID-19 based on Intravacc's proprietary outer membrane vesicle (OMV) technology platform.
Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) are spherical particles with intrinsic adjuvating properties. Empty OMVs can be loaded with antigens of choice via genetic engineering.
The joint venture will combine Intravacc's immunogenic OMV delivery platform with synthetically produced COVID-19 epitopes designed and optimized by EpiVax's immunoinformatics tools that generate safe and effective T-cell responses against SARS-CoV-2.
Preclinical studies to select the best peptide candidates have already begun. Intravacc will utilize its in-house pilot-scale facility for good manufacturing practices production of the OMV-peptide vaccine for phase I clinical studies, which are expected to begin in fourth quarter 2020, according to the firm.