Emergex partners with George Mason University for highly pathogenic RNA virus studies

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Apr 22 2020

Emergex Vaccines Holding Limited ('Emergex'), a biotechnology company developing CD8+ priming set-point vaccines to prevent serious infectious diseases, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with the George Mason University, based in Virginia, in the United States.

The agreement specifies that George Mason University's National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases will provide their unique expertise and resources as a partner in the development of Emergex's vaccines against highly pathogenic RNA viruses. In particular, George Mason University's Biosafety 3 capabilities, coupled with their experience in dealing with RNA viruses, means that they are a well-suited collaborator on the vaccine validation studies, as well as the optimization of vaccine design.

Everyone in the world today has or will be affected by highly pathogenic RNA viruses such as bird flu, Ebola, COVID-19, etc. These viruses have caused significant morbidity and mortality, especially in high-risk groups such as the immunocompromised or elderly. We are therefore very excited to announce today this agreement with George Mason University, which adds an important capability to Emergex's vaccine program."

Professor Thomas Rademacher, CEO and co-founder of Emergex

Dr. Aarthi Narayanan, Associate Professor of Systems Biology in George Mason University's College of Science, added, "My colleagues and I are looking forward to partnering with Emergex and we are especially pleased to be lending our expertise to efforts to create a vaccine during these challenging times. As members of the faculty of a premier research university, we work with other thought leaders to address global threats. This is how we make progress, and collaboration is the top priority for the College of Science, the Institute for Biohealth Innovation, and the University as a whole."

Emergex's set-point vaccines have been designed to offer advantages compared to traditional vaccines. These vaccines modify the initial immune status of the recipients in a way that 'primes' their immune systems to recognize subsequent infectious agents much like a natural infection would do, and thus preventing an acute or severe manifestation of the disease. They do this by providing a cell-mediated immune response (a T-cell response) rather than a humoral immune response (an antibody based immune response) which should stimulate longer lasting immunity. They are self-adjuvanted and limit or eliminate the allergic, autoimmune or antibody mediated side effects associated with the traditional vaccines. They are also 100% synthetic and do not contain any RNA or DNA - do not use inactivated or live-attenuated pathogens - and therefore should be inherently safer to develop and use.