Date: 2013-10-29
Type of information: Collaboration agreement
Compound: thermostable adjuvants including adjuvant AS01
Company: GSK (UK) Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Therapeutic area: Infectious diseases
Type agreement: collaboration
R&D
Action mechanism:
Disease:
Details: * On October 29, 2013, GSK and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have announced the launch of a new joint initiative that will endeavour to make vaccines more resistant to heat, thus reducing the need for refrigeration. GSK and BMGF will invest a combined $1.8 million in early stage research into vaccine thermostability. Most vaccines must be kept cold and transported under constant refrigeration via a so-called ‘cold chain’ which is a significant challenge in hot, remote and resource-limited regions. Details of the Vaccine Discovery Partnership (VxDP) under which this initiative falls were unveiled at the Foundation’s Grand Challenges Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In one of the first projects to start under this initiative, GSK researchers will explore how to make adjuvants more heat stable. This project will focus initially on the adjuvant AS01 which is used in GSK’s RTS,S malaria vaccine candidate, currently in late-stage development in partnership with the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative. RTS,S has been designed for use in infants and children from sub-Saharan Africa, where maintaining vaccines at an optimum temperature can be challenging. Developing a method of making AS01 more heat stable could bring a significant public health benefit. The results could also have broader applications for all other AS01-containing vaccines, including vaccines in development by GSK against HIV and tuberculosis.
GSK is in on-going discussions with the Foundation to shape and plan additional projects with relevance to global health that can be initiated through this new collaboration.
The Vaccine Discovery Partnership (VxDP) is a novel funding programme initiated by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to enhance innovation in the development of vaccines for global health. Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) framework, the VxDP will oversee a range of projects with multiple industry partners. Projects funded through the VxDP will span preclinical to experimental Phase IIa trials. These projects may be of relatively high risk, such that they would be difficult for any one organisation to fund without the partnership. The Foundation will set aside funds to support pilot projects and partnering companies will contribute matching resources and expertise while also committing that advances will support those who need them most through global access provisions.
Financial terms:
Latest news:
