VANCOUVER, B.C. , March 1, 2021 /CNW/ -- BioVaxys Technology Corp. (CSE: BIOV) (FRA: 5LB) (OTC: LMNGF) ( "BioVaxys"), the world leader in haptenized protein vaccines for antiviral and cancer applications, announced today that it is assessing steps to modify BVX-0320 and Covid-T, its SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate and T-cell diagnostic, to address the newly emerging variants (the South African, UK, and Brazilian variants) of SARS-CoV-2 that are of high concern to worldwide governments, healthcare practitioners, and infectious disease researchers.
Given the flexibility in BioVaxys' viral vaccine platform based on haptenizing viral antigens, the Company is exploring the potential for producing a multivalent vaccine, which will be a combination of the haptenized spike proteins subunits from each clinically significant variant. Once the amino acid sequences for the variants are available, BioVaxys should be able to quickly produce a multivalent vaccine. BioVaxys is also planning a product line extension of Covid-T, its disposable diagnostic for screening for T cell response to SARS-CoV-2, that would have capability to screen for T-cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 variants.
In recent months, highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 variants - United Kingdom (B.1.1.7 lineage),South Africa (B.1.351 lineage), and Brazil (P.1 lineage) - with mutations in the spike protein have been spreading globally and appear to cause major changes in the way the virus acts, including enhanced transmissibility and possibly increased clinical severity. Most disconcerting are findings that recently approved Covid-19 vaccines may not work as well against these variants. In a new study which was published the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from Pfizer, BioNTech, and the University of Texas Medical Branch examined how well blood taken from people who had received the companies' vaccine fought off a virus engineered to have the key mutations found in B.1.351. They reported that there was about a two-thirds drop in neutralization power against the variant compared to other forms of the SARS-CoV-2 (NEJM, Neutralizing Activity of BNT162b2-Elicited Serum - Preliminary Report February 17, 2021). These "mutations" have quickly emerged in different geographical regions, such as the UK, South Africa and Brazil , and in some places have outcompeted the existing variants. Given the nature of viruses and their natural propensity to mutate, it is likely that additional clinically significant variants will emerge.
A multivalent vaccine based on haptenized spike proteins of the emerging variants would be expected to have the same level of effectiveness that Biovaxys has demonstrated with its monovalent BVX-0320 vaccine in a mouse model: a 96.4% spike protein-binding antibody response, activation of CD4+ helper T cells and CD8+ killer T cells, and stimulation of T cells that produce the cytokine, gamma interferon. Helper CD4+ T-cells are memory cells that retain information about the virus, enabling them to respond rapidly after viral exposure. CD8+ T cells have the capacity to kill cells infected by the virus, thereby stopping viral replication in those cells.
Dr. David Berd , Chief Medical Officer of Biovaxys, noted that "hapten modification induces a strong T cell response against the unmodified, native viral protein. It is likely that T cells induced by the original viral spike protein would also react with the new variants, even though the antibody response is attenuated."
For greater certainty, BioVaxys is not making any express or implied claims that it has the ability to treat the SAR-CoV-2 virus at this time.
About BioVaxys Technology Corp.
Based in Vancouver , BioVaxys Technology Corp . is a British Columbia -registered, early stage biotechnology company that is developing viral and oncology vaccine platforms, as well as immuno-diagnostics. The Company is advancing a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine based on its haptenized viral protein technology, and is planning a clinical trial of its haptenized autologous cell vaccine used in combination with anti-PD1 and anti-PDL-1 checkpoint inhibitors that will initially be developed for ovarian cancer. Also in development is a diagnostic for evaluating the presence or absence of a T cell immune response to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. BioVaxys has two issued US patents and two patent applications related to its cancer vaccine, and pending patent applications for its SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) vaccine and diagnostic technologies. BioVaxys common shares are listed on the CSE under the stock symbol "BIOV" and trades on the Frankfurt Bourse (FRA: 5LB) and US OTC: LMNGF.
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Signed " James Passin "
James Passin , CEO
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