SIRION Biotech announces preclinical vaccination success

news-releasesSIRION Biotech GmbH
January 11th 2016

Martinsried, Germany: – Viral technology specialist SIRION Biotech has opened the New Year by announcing its first successful preclinical vaccination results from ProVector™ cell products, clearing a pathway to future clinical applications.

SIRION has used its new ProVector™ cell line to increase production of demanding virus constructs, successfully engineering and producing new vaccination vectors based on the adenoviral serotype Ad19a.

The company has collaborated with Prof. Peter J. Holst of the Novo Nordisk Foundation for Basic Metabolic Research at University of Copenhagen to test these new vaccination vectors in rodents.

Outstanding T-cell activation

“Results rose above all expectations,” said SIRION Biotech CEO Dr. Christian Thirion.

“T-cell activation showed an increase against pathogen antigen that not only matched but exceeded responses generated with standard vector systems,” Dr. Thirion explained.

“These promising results lay the groundwork for development of the Ad19a system as the newest openly available vector platform for vaccination R&D. Providing similar results in the next animal system, first clinical applications may be expected as soon as 2017,” he added.

Viral vector technologies

Traditional vaccines are built from inactive or attenuated elements of a pathogen. Viral vectors on the other hand work as DNA or RNA transporters to reprogram a patient’s cells in order to produce a particular antigen and present it directly to the immune system.

This method favors a cell-mediated immune response that fortifies the vaccination success. It also increases the medical potential as it can help fight established disease or cancers as a new form of therapy, on top of serving as a preventative measure.

From a commercial standpoint, viral vectors can help eliminate complex manufacturing processes of classic vaccines and avoid secondary and tertiary structural deviations that are common in synthetic antigen production.

AD19a: preventative vaccination hopes

Ad19a is the latest in adenoviral (AV) gene vector innovations. Demonstrating its ability to elicit robust immune response against a genetically coded antigen in a rodent model, together with a new production cell line that caters to special requirements of complex gene vectors, addresses several challenges of modern vaccination R&D. Hopes are high that it will pave the way to create preventative vaccinations as well as new cancer therapies that will benefit a big segment of the population.

About SIRION Biotech

Founded at Martinsried, near Munich, in 2007, SIRION BIOTECH has become Europe’s leading commercial supplier of viral vectors used for genetic research, clinical target validation, gene therapy and vaccination studies.

From the beginning, SIRION’s mission has been to change the paradigm for viral vector supplies, with ability to develop and supply all common viral vector types (adenovirus, lentivirus, AAV, etc.) within a matter of weeks at the concentration titers and quantities needed for preclinical human and animal testing.

The company also offers a full range of virus related services, ranging from particle production to virus driven cell modeling.

SIRION offerings include the transformational RNAiONE™ knockdown validation platform.

SIRION’s core expertise lies in custom virus generation for genetic engineering of mammalian cell systems. With its comprehensive viral vector portfolio, SIRION offers a suitable option for almost any in vitro and in vivo application. SIRION can supply all three of the most commonly used virus systems for gene manipulation: recombinant adenovirus particles (AVs), lentiviruses and adeno-associated viruses (AAVs).

Succeed with Sirion

LentiBOOST® - Lentiviral Transduction Enhancer For Clinical Applications

FREE DOWNLOAD