Flow Pharma has received a Phase I STTR contract award for a Marburg virus prophylactic countermeasure vaccine working in collaboration with the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology
NEWARK, CA / ACCESSWIRE / October 9, 2018 / Flow Pharma, Inc., a San Francisco Bay Area based biotechnology company developing the FlowVax peptide vaccine platform technology, today announced that the Company has received a Phase I STTR contract award to begin developing a protective vaccine against the Marburg virus. Flow Pharma is working in collaboration with Dr. Alessandro Sette's laboratory at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology.
"Marburg is a virus in the same family as Ebola and, like Ebola, is a Category-A bio-warfare agent under the CDC's classification system. No approved vaccine for Marburg currently exists and my laboratory is happy to be working with Flow Pharma to help design a peptide vaccine that could protect at-risk populations from this deadly virus," said Dr. Alessandro Sette, Division Head, Center for Infectious Diseases, La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology.
Dr. Sette has devoted more than 30 years of study towards understanding the immune response, measuring immune activity, and developing disease intervention strategies against cancer, autoimmunity, allergy, and infectious diseases. His laboratory is defining in chemical terms the specific structures (epitopes) that the immune system recognizes, and uses this knowledge to measure and understand immune responses.
"Most vaccines are designed to generate an antibody response. Our FlowVax peptide vaccine platform is being designed to induce killer T-cells to attack viruses and cancer markers expressed on the surface of the patient's cells. We believe that Flow Pharma's Artificial Intelligence ("AI") augmented techniques can enable us to find the most susceptible sites on the Marburg virus for attack by the patient's immune system. This Phase I STTR award will provide the necessary funding to allow us to identify these targets which will then be further evaluated by Dr. Sette and his group," said C.V. Herst, Ph.D., Flow Pharma Chief Science Officer.
"Developing vaccines directed against Ebola and Marburg has been challenging. There are no vaccines for either of these viruses licensed by the FDA or any other government's similar agency. Previous efforts have primarily focused on developing vaccines that induce an antibody response to viral infection. We are confident that our FlowVax platform, based on a killer T-cell focused approach to vaccine design, will help us be successful in this challenging endeavor," said Flow Pharma CEO Reid Rubsamen, M.D.
Notice
This material is based upon work supported by the US Army Contracting Command - Aberdeen Proving Ground - Natick Contracting Division under Contract No. W911QY18P0298.
Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the US Army Contracting Command - Aberdeen Proving Ground - Natick Contracting Division.
About Flow Pharma
Flow Pharma, Inc. is a San Francisco Bay Area based, pre-clinical stage biotechnology company using artificial intelligence to guide the selection of neoantigen peptide targets on cancer cells or virus-infected cells for attack by the patient's own, native immune system. These peptides can then be loaded into the FlowVax platform for administration by injection.
Flow Pharma, Inc. is preparing to test therapeutic cancer vaccines targeting neoantigens found in various cancers. Neoantigens are small peptide markers expressed on cancer cells as a result of a cancer-causing viral infection or mutation of the DNA in normal cells that subsequently contribute to transformation of the normal cells into cancer cells.
About the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology
The La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology is dedicated to understanding the intricacies and power of the immune system so that we may apply that knowledge to promote human health and prevent a wide range of diseases. Since its founding in 1988 as an independent, nonprofit research organization, the Institute has made numerous advances leading toward its goal: life without disease.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including information about management's view of Flow Pharma, Inc. ("the Company"), future expectations, plans and prospects. In particular, when used in the preceding discussion, the words "believes," "expects," "intends," "plans," "anticipates," or "may," and similar conditional expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Any statements made in this presentation other than those of historical fact, about an action, event or development, are forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the results of the Company, its subsidiaries and concepts to be materially different than those expressed or implied in such statements. Unknown or unpredictable factors also could have material adverse effects on the Company's future results. The forward-looking statements included in this presentation are made only as of the date hereof. The Company cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Finally, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements after the date of this release, except as required by law, and also takes no obligation to update or correct information prepared by third parties that are not paid for by Flow Pharma, Inc.
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SOURCE: Flow Pharma, Inc.