Frontier IP portfolio company The Vaccine Group (“TVG” or the “Company”) has successfully completed a project to develop a transmissible vaccine for use in the rats that spread Lassa fever to reduce its threat to humans.
A small-scale trial of a candidate vaccine in controlled conditions has shown the vaccine can be transmitted between rats, significantly improve their immunity to the disease and reduce its spread between them. Technology with the potential to scale up the vaccine for commercial production was also developed as part of the project.
The work was funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (“DARPA”) and involved TVG collaborating with academic partners from around the world. It was led by University of California, Davis (“UC Davis”).
TVG is developing vaccines based on safe forms of cytomegaloviruses (CMV), members of the herpesvirus family. The project identified and isolated a strain of CMV unique to the rats for use as a vaccine vector. Antigens to the Lassa fever virus were then inserted into the CMV to create the candidate vaccine. This spread between the rats, carried by the CMV vector. The project partners also created a computer model to predict the impact of Lassa fever control interventions.
Other herpesvirus-based vaccines TVG is developing include those to combat COVID-19, African swine fever, Streptococcus suis, a disease in pigs that can cause meningitis in humans, and Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, in collaboration with ECO Animal Health Group plc and The Pirbright Institute.
This is a highly successful project that has delivered a range of tools that can be taken forward as part of a control programme for Lassa fever in West Africa. From a standing start in 2019 the global project team has pooled resources to enable the development of a candidate vaccine developed from a cytomegalovirus strain that was not even available before the project began. The team has created a thorough understanding of the viral ecology in the mastomys rat population in the region where Lassa fever is endemic. Combining this data has led to an informed computer model for assessment of intervention strategies to aid in the control of this important zoonotic viral pathogen in West Africa.
TVG Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Salt
The success of this project provides strong vindication for TVG’s herpesvirus-based vaccine technology. Transmissible vaccines have the potential to tackle a range of zoonotic threats emerging in wild animal reservoirs, and we are looking forward to seeing further progress on Lassa fever.
Frontier IP Chief Executive Officer Neil Crabb
