Amorfix Life Sciences Ltd. (TSX:AMF) and Pan-Provincial Vaccine Enterprise Inc. (PREVENT) of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, today announced that the two groups have entered into a licensing agreement granting PREVENT exclusive worldwide rights to Amorfix's lead amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) vaccines. The vaccines have shown efficacy in animal models of ALS and PREVENT will now, at their expense, complete the development and conduct clinical trials.
"We are pleased the leading organization in Canada for the commercialization of vaccines, PREVENT, has selected our vaccine technology and will take over the clinical development of our lead vaccine candidates for ALS," said Dr. Robert Gundel, President and CEO of Amorfix. "This validates the value of our ProMIS(TM) discovery platform, which we are using now to develop diagnostics, antibodies and vaccines for cancers and misfolded protein diseases."
"The Amorfix ALS vaccine intellectual property, and its development program, are a great addition to the PREVENT portfolio pipeline," commented Dr. Naveen Anand, CEO of PREVENT. "The program combines the right elements of academic research, industrial involvement, novel technology and medical needs to enable a good fit with our mandate."
Under the agreement, PREVENT will receive the exclusive worldwide license to develop Amorfix's DSE(TM) vaccines for the ALS field of use. Amorfix retains all rights to develop antibodies and diagnostics for ALS. Under the license terms, PREVENT will develop vaccine formulations, finish preclinical studies for regulatory approvals and conduct clinical testing of the vaccines at their cost. Upon successful completion of Phase I clinical trials both parties have an option to lead the commercialization process under a cost-sharing and revenue-sharing arrangement which includes royalty payments.
"It is great to see a partnership between two Canadian organizations to address new treatments for ALS," said Mr. David Cameron, President to the ALS Society of Canada, "A better treatment for ALS is urgently needed."
The licensed intellectual property includes Disease Specific Epitopes (DSE(TM)) and vaccines arising from Amorfix's discovery platform using the ProMIS(TM) algorithm for prediction of DSEs on misfolded proteins. This unique approach enables the discovery of antibodies that recognize and inhibit only the misfolded protein which forms in the disease, while allowing the normal protein to continue to function.
"We have only just begun to use DSEs to rationally design new treatments for many misfolded-protein illnesses" said Dr. Neil Cashman, Chief Scientific Officer of Amorfix.
Amorfix continues to discuss with potential partners alliances for the continued development of the antibodies and diagnostic applications for ALS and new projects for the ProMIS(TM) discovery platform. These alliances will be announced when they are completed.
Argonne receives $21.7 million to advance cancer and vaccine discoveries