H1N1 Influenza Vaccine From A*STAR & Cytos Enters Phase I Trials

Singapore’s A*STAR and Switzerland’s Cytos Biotechnology AG today announced the initiation of Phase I trials for their H1N1 influenza vaccine candidate.

AsianScientist (May 17, 2013) – Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and Switzerland’s Cytos Biotechnology AG today announced the initiation of Phase I trials for their H1N1 influenza vaccine candidate.

The vaccine candidate is based on Cytos’ proprietary bacteriophage Qbeta virus-like particle (VLP) technology. The safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine candidate and its potential to protect against H1N1 influenza infection will be evaluated in this trial.

A*STAR is developing the vaccine candidate under a collaborative research, development, and commercialization agreement entered into with Cytos in 2010, with the goal of providing the government of Singapore an effective means of combating influenza epidemics and pandemics.

Under the agreement, Cytos retains the worldwide right to develop and commercialize the vaccine candidate globally, while A*STAR subsidiaries will have the right to develop and commercialize the vaccine for Singapore and other ASEAN countries and can earn royalties on worldwide net sales.

“We are very pleased with the fruitful collaboration which has led to the clinical start of this novel influenza vaccine. This is an important milestone for the program and the first clinical program using Cytos’ B-cell vaccine platform for a prophylactic vaccine against an infectious disease,” said Christian Itin, PhD, Chairman and CEO of Cytos.

A*STAR’s Experimental Therapeutics Center (ETC) was the primary driver of the multi-institutional effort culminating in the start of the clinical development program, which involved academic and clinical partners across Singapore, namely A*STAR’s Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), DSO National Laboratories, and Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School. This Phase I clinical trial is being conducted at the SingHealth Investigational Medicine Unit and the Changi General Hospital Trials and Research unit in Singapore.

“If this VLP-vaccine strategy proves to be effective, it can accelerate the production of vaccines against new emerging strains of flu. This will greatly aid Singapore’s preparedness to produce vaccines quickly, safely and economically in the event of a flu epidemic. This could potentially open doors for faster production of vaccines to a range of viral diseases as well,” said Professor Alex Matter, Chief Executive Officer of D3 (Drug Discovery and Development) and A*STAR’s ETC.

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Source: A*STAR.
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