Emergex signs MoU with Brazil’s Fiocruz for development of viral vaccines

Reviewed by James Ives, M.Psych. (Editor)Sep 20 2018

Emergex Vaccines Holding Limited, a biotechnology company pioneering a new approach to synthetic vaccine development in the field of infectious diseases, today announces that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Brazil-based Oswaldo Cruz Foundation 'Fiocruz' for the development of viral vaccines. The MoU initially covers the development of a vaccine that universally targets diseases within the flavivirus family such as Dengue Fever, Zika and Yellow Fever but could be expanded to include the development of vaccines to target other viral families that are endemic to the region.

The MoU consists of three parts. The first part is a Collaboration Agreement under which Fiocruz and Emergex will initially carry out a Phase I clinical trial to demonstrate flavivirus vaccine safety. Thereafter, the two parties expect to carry out further clinical studies to test the vaccine in the field. The second part of the MoU is an 'umbrella' R&D agreement under which Emergex and Fiocruz will co-develop vaccines to viruses that are of specific importance to the Brazilian government and are prevalent and endemic in the region. Emergex and Fiocruz will develop vaccines collaboratively to find solutions for various diseases that have not yet been resolved using conventional vaccine approaches. The third part of the MoU covers a vaccine technology transfer agreement for vaccines that will be used within Brazil's National Health Service.

Emergex's vaccines are 100% synthetic, multi-component vaccines containing peptides that are highly conserved between viral strains. This means that Emergex can create a "universal" vaccine that is cross-reactive and targets numerous diseases within one viral family. One example of this is Emergex's universal flavivirus vaccine which is designed to target diseases such as Dengue Fever, Zika and Yellow Fever.

Professor Thomas Rademacher, co-founder, CEO and CSO at Emergex commented: "Fiocruz is recognized as one of the world's largest public health research institutions. It has a broad range of responsibilities related to the health and wellbeing of the Brazilian population of over 207 million people. The signing of this MoU is a commitment to explore how our organizations can work together to develop new vaccines against major viral threats that occur in the region."

Marco Krieger, VP Production and Innovation at Fiocruz added: "Fiocruz is committed to researching, developing and manufacturing new vaccines to address Brazil's most important infectious diseases. This MoU demonstrates our intention to partner with Emergex to develop a new generation of vaccines. We chose Emergex as its technology enables it to develop and manufacture vaccines in less time and at a fraction of the cost of traditional vaccines. Its vaccine components are stable at ambient temperatures, avoiding the need for refrigeration, reducing costs and enabling easy transportation - making it particularly suited to treating diseases in remote parts of the world."