Peptide Vaccine Manufacturing | Interview with Dr. Mimoun Ayoub of CordenPharma

"The concept of designing immunomodulating peptide cocktails and trigger the immune response has been mainly initiated by biotech companies who owns more than 80% of the current cancer vaccine pipeline."

In a recent interview with TIDES, Mimoun Ayoub, Ph.D., Director, Global Peptides & Injectables Platform, CordenPharma, Switzerland, shifts the focus towards the topics that will be addressed in his talk at the upcoming TIDES event. In his talk he will be examining the peptide vaccines that are designed to activate B-cells and killer T-cells to recognize cancer cells as foreign agents. Cancer cells have surface protein modifications such as phosphorylations and glycosylations that differentiate them from healthy cells. The peptide epitopes used are usually fragments from these modified proteins. These "cocktails" of peptide fragments can be further engineered to increase their immune activity and plasma half-life by constraining the peptide backbone through introduction of cyclization or non-natural amino acids in the sequence. The production and analytical challenges related to cocktail peptide vaccines will be discussed.

In the interview, Dr. Ayoub also addresses:

• The role peptide vaccines play in the in the development of novel cancer therapies
• Regulatory challenges during the development and manufacturing of peptide vaccine "cocktails"
• Future delivery methods for administering peptide vaccines

Access the complete interview

To learn more from Dr. Ayoub, join him at IBC's 18th Annual TIDES event this May in Long Beach, CA where he will be chairing the Peptide Chemistry Manufacturing and Controls track as well as speaking in a session titled "Peptide Vaccine Manufacturing : Drug Substance and Drug Product CMC Challenges" Download the brochure to access the complete agenda and speaking faculty. 


Register for TIDES now and save $500 - To activate your savings, use the code B16180BLOG100  

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The General Evolution of the Vaccine Industry

For a sneak peek at the high caliber of content presented at BPI West, we had industry expert Rahul Singhvi, COO of Takeda Vaccines join us for an exclusive interview.

In this interview, Rahul Singhvi, MBA, the Chief Operating Officer at Takeda Vaccines starts by discussing the general evolution of vaccine industry over the years and what the industry looks like today. He mentions that companies in the vaccine space today tend to be very insular - controlling all aspects of the process - but continues on to say that Takeda is proudly taking a partnering approach and goes on to explain what that means and why it is important. On top of that, Rahul continues to discuss what he feels the greatest needs and opportunities are in terms of technological innovation, development and manufacturing solutions. And finally makes some bold predictions on the vaccine industries future, and the key trend and opportunities that you should watch for.

Access the Interview

Interested in learning more? Join us at BPI West - March 14-17 in Oakland, CA. Register before 2/19 with the code BPIWEST16BL and save $300 | To activate your savings, click here.

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Improved Immunogenicity, Rapid Action of Anthrax Vaccine

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”.

Want more on the latest in immunogenicity?  Join us at the Immunogenicity for Biotherapeutics conference this October 20-22 in Boston, MA. Download the agenda to see what’s on tap.

SAVE $100. Register here and use code XP1938BLOG.

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Wyeth seeks FDA approval to market Prevnar 13

Wyeth created the world's first blockbuster, billion dollar vaccine when it launched Prevnar-7 in 2002, a testament to vaccine profitability in the current market. Prevnar 7 has been credited in massive worldwide reduction of pneumoccal disease, including meningitis and blood infections. Currently, they are filing for Prevnar 13 approval. Prevnar 13 guards against the same seven common strains of strep bacteria that the currently used vaccine protects against. And it adds six new strains that also are appearing regularly around the world. One of those strains is 19A, a growing threat that can often be resistant to antibiotics. Prevnar 13 also expands its patient base to protect adults, as Prevnar 7 is limited to use in children.

Wyeth will be giving a case study about their development strategy at the Vaccines Development Forum, May 6-8, in Boston. Wyeth, along with 20 other leading vaccine developing companies, will be giving case studies on their successful development strategies at the event. Don’t miss out- register today at www.iirusa.com/vaccines to unlock the most efficient ways to bring your vaccines to market. Interested in networking? Join the Linked in group today http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=57105

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