Tripep signs a Letter of Intent with San Diego based Inovio Inc for a joint clinical development of ChronVac-B, a therapeutic vaccine for chronic hepatitis B virus infections
Tripep and San Diego-based Inovio Inc have today signed a Letter of Intent for a joint development of a therapeutic vaccine for chronic hepatitis B virus infections. The companies already have an ongoing collaboration on the ChronVac-C vaccine delivered using Inovio’s DNA delivery technology for the treatment of chronic infections caused by the hepatitis C virus, which this month enters phase I/II clinical testing.
The new collaborative project combines Tripep’s ChronVac-B vaccine technology and Inovio’s in vivo electroporation technology. Almost a third of the world’s population has come into contact with the hepatitis B virus. It is estimated that around 400 million are chronic carriers, with an elevated risk for severe liver disease and cancer. Today’s approved therapies have problems with side effects and development of antiviral resistance. Thus, there is a great need to improve therapies for chronic hepatitis B virus infections. A therapeutic vaccine aims at improving the immune response of the infected patient by a specific activation of the hepatitis B-specific immunity in order to help the patient to gain control of the infection. At present only prophylactic vaccines for hepatitis B infections are available. The combined market for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B and C virus infections is estimated to 3,5 billion USD.
” I am very pleased to announce this new collaborative project with Inovio’s adding to Tripep’s project portfolio. We already know that the combination of Tripep’s and Inovio’s technologies work well together. We therefore expect that this new joint project will reach the clinic rapidly” says Tripep’s CEO Jan Nilsson.
For more information, please contact:
Jan Nilsson, CEO, Tripep AB
Tel: +46 8 449 84 80, mobile phone: +46 70 466 31 63, E-mail: jan.nilsson@tripep.se
Anders Vahlne, Head of Research, Tripep AB
Tel: +46 8 5858 1313, mobile phone: +46 709 28 05 28, E-mail: anders.vahlne@ki.se