Biotechnology experts Defence Therapeutics have sensationally announced that their new COVID vaccine has demonstrated effectiveness in a non-rodent model.
The new COVID vaccine – called AccuVAC-PT001 – has undergone a non-GLP study on rabbits, displaying a potent humoral response with titer reaching 1:43 000 000 per average, with no signs of toxicity. Defence Therapeutics have analysed its AccuVAC-PT001 vaccine previously in mice models.
A new weapon against COVID
This new COVID vaccine is highly immunogenic, generating antibodies that cross-reacted with all tested variants, even the Delta strain. In addition to neutralisation and mechanistic studies, Defence Therapeutics re-tested AccuVAC-PT001 in rabbits with a Contract Research Organisation (CRO) as a second non-rodent animal model.
The rabbits who were administered the vaccine developed a robust humoral response, with subsequent physical examination over 42 days revealing no change in body weight, activity, or behaviour. Furthermore, there was no observed rash or changes of appearance at the injection sites.
Sebastien Plouffe, the President, CEO and Director of Defence Therapeutics, commented: “Defence’s next step is a GLP study that will enable us to present our product, AccuVAC-PT001, to Health Canada and the FDA. Once cleared, Defence can initiate a Phase I/IIa on its COVID vaccine in healthy individuals.
“Defence’s Accum technology is highly versatile and can be applied to any protein. Results have demonstrated from past and current vaccine studies that the AccuVAC-PT001 platform enables the design of novel protein-based vaccines that will amplify the immune response that can be generated by current vaccines.”
Coronavirus is evolving at a rapid rate toward evading vaccine-induced immunity. The data acquired throughout this testing signified that the AccuVAC-PT001 vaccine is proficient in combatting an array of currently circulating variants, highlighting how vital continued research and development is to neutralise potential novel variants and future mutations effectively.
About Defence Therapeutics
Defence Therapeutics is a publicly-traded biotechnology company working on engineering the next-generation vaccines and ADC products using its proprietary platform. The core of the Defence Therapeutics platform is the ACCUMTM technology, which enables precision delivery of vaccine antigens or ADCs in their intact form to target cells. As a result, increased efficacy and potency can be reached against catastrophic illnesses such as cancer and infectious diseases.
