Neovaccine Strategies
Industry: Bacterial pathogen vaccines
According to the CDC, the multi-drug-resistant bacterial pathogen "caused an estimated 32,600 infections among hospitalized patients and 2,700 estimated deaths in the United States"in 2017. It is the major pathogen threat to hospitalized patients, affecting particularly those with immunocompromised conditions, and is of special risk to those with cystic fibrosis.
Neovaccine Strategies is developing a novel immunotherapeutic reagent to act as a prophylactic against P. aeruginosa. Their technique generates antibodies to the abundant, highly conserved protein EF-Tu. Encouraged by early findings, Neovaccine will test their vaccine on a mouse model in the next phase of development.
This technique, the passive administration of antibodies, importantly does not require a functioning immune response, making this ideally suited to immunocompromised patients needing protection from this bacterial pathogen.
