Oragenics Enters into an Exclusive Global License Agreement with Inspirevax to Develop Intranasal Covid Vaccine Candidate
March 01 2023 - 07:30AM
Business Wire
Licensing milestones provides opportunity to
expand vaccine program
Oragenics, Inc. (NYSE American: OGEN) (“Oragenics” or the
“Company”), a biotech company dedicated to fighting infectious
diseases including COVID-19, today announced that the Company has
entered into an exclusive global license agreement with Inspirevax
Inc. for its novel intranasal mucosal adjuvant, BDX301, for the
development of NT-CoV2-1, Oragenics’ lead intranasal COVID-19
vaccine candidate.
Under the exclusive licensing agreement, Oragenics will pursue
the development of NT-CoV2-1 with Inspirevax’s novel BDX301
intranasal mucosal adjuvant. The companies will form a Joint
Development Committee (JDC) comprising representatives of both
companies to oversee the development efforts collaboratively.
Oragenics will make clinical, regulatory and commercial milestone
payments, as well as tiered royalty payments. Additionally, the
agreement provides a certain period of time for the companies to
expand their collaboration to pursue the development of additional
intranasal vaccine candidates using Inspirevax’s adjuvants.
“This agreement represents a major milestone for Oragenics and
our corporate strategy initiatives to expand our development
opportunities. We are excited to collaborate with the experts at
Inspirevax to pursue the development of novel intranasal vaccine
candidates,” explains Kimberly Murphy, President and Chief
Executive Officer of Oragenics. “There is an unmet medical need for
an intranasal COVID-19 vaccine. We are currently evaluating
formulation options for NT-CoV2-1 and assessing various regulatory
pathways to advance this program efficiently and thoughtfully. We
are working diligently to advance the program and intend to provide
an update in mid-2023.”
“Intranasally delivered vaccines with our BDX301 adjuvant have
shown encouraging results in preclinical models for COVID-19
infections. We welcome the opportunity to partner with Oragenics’
in the development of a potential novel intranasal vaccine
candidate in the global fight against COVID-19 and infectious
disease,” stated Joseph Zimmermann, President and Chief Executive
Officer of Inspirevax.
In December 2022, Oragenics reported results indicating no
toxicity signals or adverse events from its Good Laboratory
Practices toxicology study in rabbits evaluating the safety and
immunogenicity of NT-CoV2-1 plus BDX301, including a full
histopathology evaluation. Oragenics believes these findings
confirm a safety and immunogenicity profile that supports its plan
to advance the program further toward clinical study. NT-CoV2-1
vaccine candidate demonstrated a robust antigen-specific IgG and
IgA titers in preclinical models and a reduction in viral load is
made possible by two complementary technologies, the spike protein
licensed from the National Institutes of Health and Inspirevax’s
intranasal mucosal adjuvant, BDX301. This enables several potential
benefits compared with injectable vaccines, including targeting
mucosal immunity, reducing transmission, and offering a needle-free
alternative for patients.
About Inspirevax Inc.
Inspirevax (formerly Biodextris) is dedicated to the betterment
of all people through the responsible use of advanced medical
technology. Inspirevax is developing the Proteosome Intranasal
Technology platform as a mucosal adjuvant system for use in nasal
vaccines and immunotherapies.
About Oragenics, Inc.
Oragenics, Inc. is a development-stage company dedicated to
fighting infectious diseases, including those caused by
coronaviruses and multidrug-resistant organisms. Its lead product
is NT-CoV2-1, an intranasal vaccine candidate to prevent COVID-19
and variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The NT-CoV2-1 program
leverages coronavirus spike protein research licensed from the
National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Research
Council of Canada (NRC) with a focus on reducing viral transmission
and offering a more patient-friendly intranasal administration. Its
lantibiotics program features a novel class of antibiotics against
bacteria that have developed resistance to commercial antibiotics.
For more information about Oragenics, please visit
www.oragenics.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This communication contains “forward-looking statements” within
the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking
statements are based on management’s beliefs and assumptions and
information currently available. The words “believe,” “expect,”
“anticipate,” “intend,” “estimate,” “project” and similar
expressions that do not relate solely to historical matters
identify forward-looking statements. Investors should be cautious
in relying on forward-looking statements because they are subject
to a variety of risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could
cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in
any such forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are
not limited to, the following: the Company’s ability to advance the
development of its vaccine candidate and lantibiotics candidate
under the timelines and in accord with the milestones it projects;
the Company’s ability to obtain funding, non-dilutive or otherwise,
for the development of the vaccine and lantibiotic product
candidates, whether through its own cash on hand, or another
alternative source; the regulatory application process, research
and development stages, and future clinical data and analysis
relating to vaccines and lantibiotics, including any meetings,
decisions by regulatory authorities, such as the FDA and
investigational review boards, whether favorable or unfavorable;
the potential application of our vaccine candidate to variants and
other coronaviruses; the Company’s ability to obtain, maintain and
enforce necessary patent and other intellectual property
protection; the nature of competition and development relating to
COVID-19 immunization and therapeutic treatments and demand for
vaccines and antibiotics; the Company’s expectations as to the
outcome of preclinical studies, nasal administration, transmission,
manufacturing, storage and distribution; other potential adverse
impacts due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, such as delays in
regulatory review, interruptions to manufacturers and supply
chains, adverse impacts on healthcare systems and disruption of the
global economy; the ability to sustain compliance with our listing
requirements; and general economic and market conditions and risks,
as well as other uncertainties described in our filings with the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All information set forth
in this press release is as of the date hereof. You should consider
these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included
in this press release and not place undue reliance on such
statements. We do not assume any obligation to publicly provide
revisions or updates to any forward-looking statements, whether as
a result of new information, future developments or otherwise,
should circumstances change, except as otherwise required by
law.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230301005511/en/
Oragenics, Inc. Kimberly Murphy, Chief Executive Officer
Tel: 813-286-7900 kmurphy@oragenics.com
LHA Investor Relations Tirth T. Patel 212-201-6614
tpatel@lhai.com
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