Date: 2017-01-03
Type of information: Collaboration agreement
Compound: production technology for the RiVax™ drug substance protein antigen
Company: Soligenix (USA - NJ) Emergent BioSolutions (USA - MD)
Therapeutic area:
Type agreement: collaboration
Action mechanism: vaccine. RiVax™ is a proprietary recombinant subunit vaccine developed to protect against exposure to ricin toxin. The vaccine contains a genetically altered version of a RTA chain containing two mutations that inactivate the toxicity of the ricin molecule. The development of RiVax™ has been sponsored through a series of grants and contracts from both the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, and the FDA, which were granted to Soligenix and to the University of Texas Southwestern (UTSW) where the vaccine originated. To date, Soligenix and Dr. Ellen Vitetta and colleagues at UTSW have collectively received approximately $50 million in grant and contract funding from NIAID for development of RiVax™ and related vaccine technologies. RiVax™ would potentially be added to the Strategic National Stockpile and dispensed in the event of a terrorist attack.
Disease: exposure to ricin toxin
Details: * On May 13, 2015, Soligenix announced that it has initiated a development agreement with Emergent BioSolutions to implement a commercially viable, scalable production technology for the RiVax™ drug substance protein antigen. RiVax™ is a vaccine candidate being developed to protect against ricin exposure. Soligenix will transfer the manufacturing processes and analytics to Emergent to conduct process development work that could potentially lead to a future commercial manufacturing collaboration. The RiVax™ project has been funded with Federal funds from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The agreement between Soligenix and Emergent is specifically funded by NIAID under Contract No. HHSN272201400039C.
Financial terms:
Latest news: * On January 3, 2017, Soligenix announced that it has extended its development agreement with Emergent BioSolutions to implement a commercially viable, scalable production technology for the RiVax™ drug substance protein antigen. The RiVax™ project has been funded with Federal funds of up to $24.7 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under Contract No. HHSN272201400039C. The agreement between Soligenix and Emergent is specifically funded under this same contract.
