GeoVax and BravoVax (Wuhan, China) to Collaborate on Development of Coronavirus Vaccine - Seite 2

GeoVax’s Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) platform technology is built on a 5th generation MVA vector system that is improved for high expression and stable transgenes during manufacture. Similar to its parent MVA, it has the advantage of being a live replication-competent vector in avian cells for manufacturing, yet replication-deficient in mammalian cells for vaccination, thus inherently safe. Importantly, MVA vaccines elicit protective T cell as well as antibody responses in animals and humans. The GeoVax MVA platform can be combined with the potent immunogenicity of Virus Like Particles (VLPs) (insertion of multiple antigens from each pathogen of interest conferring broad protection) or be used to express proteins in their native conformations, enabling construction of vaccine candidates that induce full protection after a single dose. Single dose protection is a favourable characteristic of preventive vaccines for emerging infectious disease outbreak response, given the speed of spread of pathogens and the impracticality of multi-dose regimens in the under-resourced settings where outbreaks often occurs. MVA-VLP vaccine candidates against various virus families (e.g. Ebola, Marburg, Lassa and Zika) induced strong antibody and T cell responses and demonstrated broad protections after single dose vaccinations against lethal challenges. 

About Coronavirus

Coronaviruses are common in many species of animals, including mammals, avians, and bats. In rare occasions, these viruses can evolve to cross the animal species and infect humans. They can quickly spread from person to person, resulting in lethal, yet rare, respiratory infections. Recent epidemics of SARS and MERS coronaviruses resulted in 774 and 858 deaths, respectively. Since 2015, there have not been any cases of SARS and MERS reported. But in January 2020, WHO identified a novel coronavirus, named 2019-nConV in Wuhan City of China. As of January 26, 2020, more than 2,000 people have been infected and at least 56 people have died as a result of the 2019-nCoV infections. To control the epidemic, China has implemented travel restrictions for more than 56 million people in the affected areas in at least 20 cities and has cancelled the mass Lunar New Year celebration in Beijing in an effort to control the spread of this deadly virus. On January 23, the Emergency Committee of the WHO advised that the current outbreak did not constitute a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), but agreed on the urgency of the situation and suggested that the Committee should be reconvened in a matter of days to examine the situation further.