Kephera nabs $5.7M in NIAID grants for Lyme, Chagas tests
360Dx (9/21)
Last week, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded Kephera Diagnostics two Small Business Innovative Research grants, totaling $5.7 million, for the development and testing of immunoassays for Lyme disease and Chagas disease. The company’s Lyme disease immunoassay could simplify diagnosis by eliminating the need to perform one of the two steps now used in the screening and confirmatory testing process. Kephera’s immunoassay for Chagas disease is designed to monitor treatment response in patients, as current drugs vary in efficacy in adults with chronic infections. It is being developed both for laboratory use and use in the field.
Clinical trial of HIV vaccine begins in United States and South Africa
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases news release (9/20), features the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Vir Biotechnology
A phase 1 trial evaluating a novel preventive HIV vaccine candidate, VIR-1388, has begun enrollment in the United States and South Africa. VIR-1388 is designed to prompt the immune system to produce T cells that can recognize and signal an immune response to prevent the virus from establishing chronic infection. It delivers vaccine material using a cytomegalovirus (CMV) vector, whose discovery and development was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID). Because CMV, while harmless, remains detectable in the body for life, researchers hope this vector will help the body retain the vaccine material for a longer period of time, overcoming the waning immunity seen with other candidate vaccines. The trial is sponsored by Vir Biotechnology with support from NIAID and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Oxford and Liverpool scientists launch new vaccine trial for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)
Pandemic Sciences Institute press release (9/18), features the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI)
Last week saw the launch of a third phase 1 clinical trial of the ChAdOx1 vaccine candidate for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). If eventually approved, the vaccine would be a game-changing tool against the viral illness, for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments, and which is recognized by the World Health Organization as a priority pathogen with epidemic potential, especially in light of new cases reported this year. The University of Oxford’s Pandemic Sciences Institute started developing the vaccine for MERS before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the research for ChAdOx1, which was put on pause during the pandemic, enabled the rapid development of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine for COVID-19.
