Biotech Sector's Response to Omicron Panic Should be Swift and Effective

FN Media Group Presents USA News Group News Commentary

VANCOUVER, BC, Dec. 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- USA News Group - Despite a level of panic that JP Morgan has already downplayed in its 2022 forecasts, the market's reaction to the latest COVID-19 variant scare (omicron) has been swift. A multitude of reactionary strategies have begun to swirl, including injecting more boosters from the original vaccine, or fast-tracking newly revamped vaccines. As COVID researchers rush to learn about the new variant, the biotech sector is responding in kind, with new developments already underway from companies such as BioVaxys Technology Corp. (CSE: BIOV) (OTCQB: BVAXF), Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA), BioNTech SE (NASDAQ: BNTX), and Pfizer, Inc. (NYSE: PFE), as well as Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX).

In the case of clinical-stage immunotherapy developers BioVaxys Technology Corp. (CSE: BIOV) (OTCQB: BVAXF), the company recently announced it has entered into a major sponsored research collaboration with Ohio State University to further develop BioVaxys' haptenized viral antigen platform to create a broadly reactive pan-sarbecovirus vaccine.

"The repeated emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants and the potential for new coronaviruses increases the urgency for a universal vaccine," said Kenneth Kovan, President and Chief Operating Officer of BioVaxys. "Research suggests that a pan-sarbecovirus vaccine could potentially prevent additional emergent variants and help end the Covid-19 pandemic."

Sarbecoviruses are a subset of the Coronaviridae family, which includes the emerging SARS2 variants Delta and Omicron. Sarbecoviruses are responsible for at least two pandemics in the last 20 years, including SARS-CoV-1 (SARS1) in 2003 and the current Covid-19 pandemic. Additional SARS-like viruses are continuously being found in nature reservoirs.

This is the second research collaboration that leading global academic research institute OSU has made with BioVaxys in the SARS-CoV-2 field. The collaboration will leverage BioVaxys' proprietary haptenized viral antigen platform to create a broadly reactive pan-sarbecovirus vaccine composed of hapten-modified S-spike protein from SARS-CoV-2 and a hapten-modified S-protein from SARS-CoV-1.

BioVaxys recently filed a patent application for its haptenized viral antigen vaccine platform to elicit a broad cross-reactive immune response against most or all sarbecoviruses.