Soligenix, a company developing vaccines for inflammatory
diseases and biodefense, has released results demonstrating improved
immunogenicity for VeloThrax™, the company’s anthrax vaccine.
VeloThrax™ is a proprietary recombinant Protective Antigen
(rPA) vaccine of Soligenix. It had been
believed that VeloThrax™’s improved immunogenicity could result in a vaccine
with the potential to be administered in fewer doses. Recent results prove that this is in fact the
case.
Next generation anthrax vaccines had aimed for fewer
vaccinations over a shorter period of time for both pre and post exposure
use. While the current vaccination
requires as many as five administrations over an 18 month period, recent
developments with VeloThrax™ show that it’s capable of producing the necessary
immune response with only two doses in less than a month’s time.
The enhanced vaccine was developed by stimulating receptor 4
(TLR-4) which plays an important role in the recognition of pathogens. The stimulation of these receptors resulted
in a boost to toxin neutralizing antibodies and triggered an elevation in immune
responses in mice after just one immunization.
The improved vaccine also proved to be stable at 40 degrees Celsius
for up to three months as well as up to 70 degrees Celsius for one month. This alleviates some of the burden in storing
the vaccine.
“We are very pleased that our enhanced anthrax vaccine,
VeloThrax™, has demonstrated promising results indicative of rapid onset of
protective immunity," explained Christopher J. Schaber, PhD, President
& CEO of Soligenix. "These data demonstrate the potential of creating
a rapidly acting anthrax vaccine with the ability to withstand temperature
extremes thereby avoiding the need for cold chain management. We believe that
stability at such elevated temperatures provides a distinct advantage over
other anthrax vaccine technologies currently in development. Further, DNI rPA
is highly immunogenic and offers the potential for complete immunization with
just one or two doses.”
Schaber says he expects his company to continue to develop
the vaccine. The ultimate goal? A position as an anthrax vaccine for “stockpiling
by the US government”.
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