WATERTOWN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Selecta Biosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing an entirely new class of targeted vaccines and immunotherapies, today announced that Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) has awarded Selecta a subcontract to develop a targeted synthetic vaccine particle product for malaria. Funding for the initiative will be provided by SAIC through its Malaria Vaccine Production and Support Services contract with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which is part of the National Institutes of Health. Selecta’s subcontract is part of a collaborative effort by NIAID and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to jointly develop novel therapeutics and vaccines for malaria and will be funded under SAIC’s contract (number N01.AI.05421) with NIAID.
"We are extremely pleased that we have been selected to apply our novel vaccine platform to the development of a vaccine for malaria," said Werner Cautreels, Ph.D., President and CEO of Selecta Biosciences. "This collaboration accelerates our progress to apply Selecta's advanced vaccine technology to address the significant unmet medical needs in malaria and highlights the breadth of our vaccine technology to treat a range of diseases that impact human health, including infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and smoking cessation."
Under the terms of the award, the targeted Synthetic Vaccine Particle (tSVP™) vaccine for malaria will be developed by Selecta for testing in preclinical studies by SAIC collaborators. tSVP™ products are fully-integrated synthetic nanoparticle vaccines engineered to mimic the properties of natural pathogens to elicit a maximal immune response. Selecta’s tSVP™ vaccines are ideally suited to induce a strong immune response to antigens, which has proven to be challenging with other vaccine approaches for certain infectious diseases, such as malaria. Selecta designs tSVP™ products to deliver antigen and adjuvant combinations within the same biodegradable nanoparticle, thus ensuring a focused and durable response while keeping off-target effects at a low level.
About Selecta
Selecta Biosciences, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company developing an entirely new class of targeted vaccines that induces an antigen-specific immune activation or antigen-specific immune tolerance for therapeutic and prophylactic applications. Selecta's proprietary Synthetic Vaccine Particle (SVP™) platform creates a new paradigm in vaccine development, enabling completely new therapeutic applications while offering the potential of improved efficacy and safety profiles. Selecta’s fully synthetic engineering of novel vaccines offers a number of compelling benefits, including flexible modular vaccine design and accelerated development timelines using robust manufacturing processes. Selecta’s SVP™ platform technology is flexible to enable diverse vaccines and the company has created targeted antigen-specific Synthetic Vaccine Particles (tSVP™) and targeted antigen-specific tolerogenic Synthetic Vaccine Particles (t2SVP™).
Targeted Synthetic Vaccine Particles (tSVP™) activate immune responses to a wide array of relevant antigens, including small molecules, peptides, oligosaccharides, and proteins. These particles can target humoral or cellular pathways of the immune system. Examples for applications include cancer, infectious diseases and addiction. Targeted tolerogenic Synthetic Vaccine Particles (t2SVP™) are designed to induce antigen-specific immune tolerance. Examples for applications include autoimmune diseases, allergies and transplant rejection.
Selecta’s pipeline currently contains a vaccine for smoking cessation and relapse prevention, a vaccine for Type 1 Diabetes, vaccines for several infectious diseases (universal influenza, universal human papillomavirus, and malaria), and research approaches with cancer vaccines and in the field of allergies.
Building on the company’s novel approach, Selecta’s product candidates have the potential to become first-in-class or best-in-class therapeutics to treat and prevent diseases. Selecta Biosciences is based in Watertown, Massachusetts, USA. For more information, please visit www.selectabio.com.