Sanofi and Acambis to collaborate on West Nile virus
pharmafile | November 13, 2007 | News story | Sales and Marketing |Â Â vaccinesÂ
Acambis has struck a deal with Sanofi Pasteur to co-develop and co-market a vaccine for West Nile disease, a serious and sometimes fatal disease transmitted to humans by mosquitoes.
There is currently no human vaccine for prevention and no specific treatment for West Nile disease, which can occur in temperate and tropical areas.
Concern about the virus has steadily grown in the US since the 1990s, and it is now considered endemic in the country, with 92 deaths from over three and a half thousand confirmed cases in 2007.
UK vaccine company Acambis has a candidate vaccine in phase II development, with its preventative effects studied in adults aged 40 to 65 and above.
Preliminary data from a previous phase II trial in healthy adults showed that over 98% of subjects developed specific antibodies in the serum within a month of receiving a single vaccination.
The new agreement will see Acambis continue to develop the vaccine up to and including the filing of a license application in the US. Acambis will receive an upfront payment of $10 million and would be eligible for pre and post-marketing milestone payments of up to $70 million from Sanofi Pasteur.
Ian Garland, chief executive of Acambis, said: "Having entered into this unique collaboration with one of the world's leading vaccine companies, we intend to be the first to bring a West Nile virus vaccine to market.
"Acambis will conduct the vaccine development, further validating our competence and capabilities in clinical development and vaccine manufacture. This contract is an important step in executing on our financing strategy for the company."
The new deal is good news for the company, which started 2007 badly when it lost out on a vital smallpox vaccine contract with the US government.
The company responded in March by ousting its board and bringing in a new management team, headed by Ian Garland, formerly head of UK biotech company Arrow Therapeutics.
Garland now has a full management team in place, and is shifting the company's focus away from 'bio-defence' contracts for the US and other governments.
Acambis says it has two potential blockbuster vaccines in its pipeline – one to combat the hospital 'superbug' bacteria C difficile (in phase I) and another in phase II for Dengue Fever, a virus which has spread rapidly in recent years, with some 2.5 billion people at risk from the sometimes fatal disease.
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