Virnext is very proud to have contributed with its partner Cynbiose to preclinical assessment and accelerating transfer to clinical trial of the HIPRA’s Covid-19 BIMERVAX® vaccine, recently approved by the European Medicines Agency.
Virnext has been committed for several years in the development of in vitro and in vivo preclinical models of infections dedicated to the screening and evaluation of antiviral, antibody and vaccine candidates against emergent and re-emergent respiratory viruses. Together with Cynbiose, we have completed several R&D programs in the field of respiratory infectious diseases and jointly offer a complete set of preclinical services and strong scientific support and expertise.
Our synergistical public-private partnership and the exceptional financial support of the Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes at the time the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic was at its peak, have enabled us to develop and characterize a first NHP model of SARS-CoV-2 infection from the first half of 2020 (#Covibiose project). We were selected to perform the preclinical studies of HIPRA’s Covid-19 vaccine which we finalized in 2021. We demonstrated that prime-boost vaccination induces neutralizing antibody response against several SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, prevents SARS-CoV-2 replication in the lower respiratory tract and significantly reduces infectious viral load in the upper respiratory tract after an experimental infection challenge. Our results highlighted the potential use of HIPRA’s Covid-19 vaccine in humans. Clinical trials were completed by HIPRA in 2022 and the European Commission signed in August 2022 an agreement, involving 13 countries, to pre-purchase up to 250 million doses of the vaccine, once approved by the EMA.
It is a real satisfaction to have contributed actively to the preclinical assessment and accelerating transfer to clinical trial of the approved HIPRA’s Covid-19 BIMERVAX® vaccine. This gives meaning and significance to our long-standing commitment and our research work in Human Health.
We congratulate the pharmaceutical company Hipra and sincerely thank it, as well as, our strategic partner Cynbiose, the French Health competitiveness cluster lyonbiopole and the Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes for their trust.
Press release:
https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:EU:ab7d6bd3-ee41-43a9-8164-62acc5006883
