Bavarian Nordic has announced that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), has exercised several contract options for the development of a vaccine that accelerates and enhances the immune response against Marburgvirus, a member of the Filovirus family. The contract, originally awarded in 2012, will provide approximately USD 15 million in additional funds to bring the total value of the contract to approximately USD 33 million. The additional revenue will be recognized over the expanded contract period from 2015–2018.
The contract will support the development of a Filovirus vaccine using Bavarian Nordic's multivalent MVA-BN Filo vaccine in a heterologous prime-boost regimen with a multivalent fowlpox virus vaccine, developed by Bavarian Nordic. Both vaccines encode components from three different Filoviruses, and are thereby designed to protect not only against Marburgvirus, but also against the Sudan and Zaire strains of Ebolavirus as called for by various US government agencies to ensure future preparedness.
A combination vaccine regimen of MVA-BN Filo and recombinant fowlpox virus recently demonstrated protection against Ebolavirus and Marburgvirus in preclinical studies. Under the NIAID contract, immunogenicity and efficacy will be further evaluated in preclinical studies, clinical trial material will be manufactured and the safety and immunogenicity of the Filovirus vaccine will be investigated in a Phase I clinical trial.
Most other Filovirus vaccine candidates currently in advanced development are monovalent, focusing solely on the Ebolavirus that is responsible for the current outbreak in West Africa. This includes Bavarian Nordic's MVA-BN Filo as part of a monovalent prime-boost vaccination regimen with Janssen's Ad26.ZEBOV, which is currently in clinical development. These monovalent development efforts are outside of the scope of the Company's contract with NIAID.
Paul Chaplin, President & CEO of Bavarian Nordic, said: "We are pleased to expand our research in the Filovirus vaccine space, where we have demonstrated significant progress over the last year in terms of both research and manufacturing of MVA-BN Filo. This agreement highlights the commitment of both the US Government and Bavarian Nordic to continue developing countermeasures for potential threats to the public health, now and in the future."
