Filovirus Vaccine
IBT is developing pan-filovirus vaccines against hemorrhagic fevers caused by viruses such as Ebola, Sudan, Bundibugyo, and Marburg. Broadly protective antibodies and a novel platform technology developed at IBT serve as a basis for rational design of a pan-filovirus vaccine. As part of this program IBT has also initiated a strategic collaboration with Agilvax, Inc. Agilvax will employ IBT’s Pan-Ebola and Pan-Filovirus monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to affinity select virus-like-particle (VLP) vaccine candidates from its extensive VLP library.
There are no approved vaccines or therapeutics for filoviruses at this time. The 2014 West African Ebola epidemic has caused over 11,000 deaths. Current vaccine candidates are mostly specific to the Zaire species of Ebola, while there are additional species of Ebola as well as the related Marburg virus that can cause fatal disease in humans.
Considering the unpredictable nature of future filovirus outbreaks, the development of vaccines that would broadly protect against multiple filoviruses is critically important.