Valo and ImmunoScape collaboration identifies immunogenic peptides for pan-coronavirus vaccine
pharmafile | March 9, 2021 | News story | Manufacturing and Production | COVID-19, Valo Therapeutics, immunoscape, vaccines
Immunotherapy platform developer Valo Therapeutics has successfully completed a collaboration with the biotechnology company ImmunoScape to identify immunogenic peptides for the development of a pan-coronavirus vaccine.
ImmunoScape has an immunomics-based technology platform that provides unprecedented insights into the human immune system. The company’s Deep Immunomics platform enables the characterisation of a patient’s immunome at ultra-high resolution, and shows the immune system in action by directly observing the modulation of phenotype, function, and specificity of individual immune cells, at scale and over time.
Analysis performed directly on blood cells from COVID-19 convalescent patients with different clinical outcomes has allowed the identification of specific CD8+ T-cell responses relevant to coronavirus.
In follow up, Valo will use its proprietary PeptiVAX technology to coat a spike-expressing adenoviral vector vaccine with HLA-restricted peptides, identified by Valo in collaboration with the University of Helsinki ImmunoViroTherapy Lab. The study indicated that these peptides may be associated with a clinically beneficial T-cell immune responses to COVID-19’s highly conserved genes.
The companies’ research focuses on peptide sequences related to conserved antigens across the coronavirus family, with the aim to develop a pan-coronavirus vaccine that will also deliver protection against emerging COVID-19 variants.
Paul Higham, CEO of Valo, commented: “There is a pressing need for a pan-coronavirus vaccine to address potential future pandemics. Our PeptiVAX technology is rapidly adaptable to the emergence of new strains or even an entirely new coronavirus.
“By leveraging our innovative PeptiVAX technology platform with partners to identify novel peptides from conserved proteins, beyond the currently identified spike proteins, our goal is to create a new vaccine that will not only protect against the current COVID-19 variants, but also provide optimal resilience against potential future coronavirus pandemics.”
Choon-Peng Ng, ImmunoScape’s CEO, also said: “The future of immunotherapy development depends upon an enhanced ability to observe and analyse the complex immune responses at high resolution. At ImmunoScape, we focus on illuminating the immune landscape.
“Our collaboration with Valo gives us a powerful spotlight to find innovative ways to protect people from COVID-19 variants that may be resistant to current vaccines.”
Darcy Jimenez
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