May 13 2015
Soligenix, Inc. (OTCQB: SNGX) (Soligenix or the Company), a late-stage biopharmaceutical company developing products that address unmet medical needs in the areas of inflammation, oncology and biodefense, announced today that it has initiated a development agreement with Emergent BioSolutions to implement a commercially viable, scalable production technology for the RiVax™ drug substance protein antigen. RiVax™ is a vaccine candidate being developed to protect against ricin exposure. Soligenix will transfer the manufacturing processes and analytics to Emergent to conduct process development work that could potentially lead to a future commercial manufacturing collaboration.
Soligenix has been developing RiVax™, in conjunction with its heat stabilization technology, ThermoVax™, as a heat-stable biodefense vaccine. RiVax™ has demonstrated both 100% protection in a preclinical model of lethal ricin exposure and stability up to 1 year at 40 degrees Celsius facilitating storage at ambient temperature. RiVax™ is being developed as a safe and effective biodefense vaccine which does not require cold chain shipment and storage.
The RiVax™ project has been funded with Federal funds from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The agreement between Soligenix and Emergent is specifically funded by NIAID under Contract No. HHSN272201400039C.
"We are pleased to initiate an agreement with Emergent BioSolutions as we expand our efforts to develop an effective, first-in-class vaccine against ricin toxin exposure in combination with our thermostabilization technology," stated Christopher J. Schaber, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Soligenix. "Collaborating with NIAID and Emergent is an important step in advancing the development of our ThermoVax™ technology platform. Soligenix intends to use this innovative technology to develop a heat stable ricin toxin vaccine that meets US Government requirements and advances a vaccine thermostabilization platform that may apply to other vaccines."
"Emergent is pleased to be working with Soligenix on this NIAID contract. We believe that Emergent's expertise in developing and manufacturing biodefense medical countermeasures complements the capabilities of the Soligenix team and we look forward to working collaboratively with them to help advance this program," stated Adam Havey, Executive Vice President and President, Biodefense Division at Emergent BioSolutions.
SOURCE Soligenix, Inc.
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