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PDS Biotech Collaborator Granted NIAID Award to Accelerate Development of Versamune®-Based Universal Influenza Vaccine
PDS Biotech ramps up third infectious disease vaccine program, PDS0202 for influenza, following PDS0201 for tuberculosis and PDS0203 for COVID-19 FLORHAM
About this update from Pds Biotechnology Corporation
[{"type":"text","content":"PDS Biotech ramps up third infectious disease vaccine program, PDS0202 for influenza, following PDS0201 for tuberculosis and PDS0203 for COVID-19\nFLORHAM PARK, N.J., July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PDS Biotechnology Corporation (Nasdaq: PDSB), a clinical-stage immunotherapy company developing novel cancer therapies and infectious disease vaccines based on the Company’s proprietary Versamune® T-cell activating technology, today announced that PDS Biotech collaborator, Professor J. Woodward of the University of Kentucky School of Medicine, has been awarded a grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ (NIAID) Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Centers (CIVICs) program to progress development of a Versamune®-based universal influenza vaccine.\n The key objective of the NIAID’s CIVICs program is to develop more durable, broadly protective, and longer-lasting vaccines effective against multiple strains of influenza, specifically including pandemic strains. Under the award, PDS Biotech will continue development of its PDS0202 vaccine program, which combines Versamune® with novel influenza vaccine antigens, with a goal of rapidly progressing into a human clinical trial. Preclinical development studies will be performed at three sites: PDS Biotech’s Princeton, NJ laboratories, The University of Kentucky School of Medicine, and the CIVICs Center for Influenza Vaccine Research for High-Risk Populations (CIVR-HRP). “We are excited to accelerate PDS0202 development to further demonstrate Versamune®’s ability to induce the immune system to generate high levels of neutralizing antibodies, killer T-cells, and long acting memory T-cells, that for PDS0202 could provide broad and long-term protection against multiple influenza strains,” commented Dr. Frank Bedu-Addo, Chief Executive Officer of PDS Biotech. “NIAID support for the upcoming PDS0202 preclinical studies could speed development of a more durable and broadly protective influenza vaccine, thus reducing the public health consequences of both seasonal and pandemic influenza.” PDS Biotech’s infectious disease portfolio consists of PDS0201 (tuberculosis), PDS0202 (universal flu) and PDS0203 (COVID-19), all of which are based on the Versamune® platform and are designed to induce a broad range of long-term protective immune responses against these pathogens...