CINCINNATI, Ohio, Feb. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blue Water Vaccines Inc. (“BWV” or “Blue Water Vaccines” or the “Company”), a biopharmaceutical company developing transformational vaccines to address significant global health challenges, today announced a collaboration with AbVacc, Inc. (“AbVacc”) for the joint development of vaccine candidates targeting monkeypox and Marburg virus disease (“MVD”).

Both candidate vaccines will utilize BWV’s norovirus shell and protrusion (“S&P”) virus-like particle (“VLP”) platform, which allows for the presentation of multiple antigens on the surface of either the S or P particle of a norovirus backbone. BWV previously announced plans to explore a novel monkeypox vaccine candidate using this platform and under this agreement, AbVacc & BWV plan to work collaboratively to optimize the vaccine design and conduct preclinical immunogenicity and efficacy studies. In addition to monkeypox vaccine development, AbVacc will utilize its extensive expertise in MVD to develop a novel vaccine targeting Marburg virus using BWV’s VLP platform.

AbVacc, a recent spin-off of Integrated BioTherapeutics Inc. (“IBT”) developing rationally designed vaccines and monoclonal antibodies, is currently developing a monoclonal antibody for treatment of MVD, IBT-T03, with discovery and preclinical development supported by multiple government grants. In May 2021, IBT was awarded a $16.3M contract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to support manufacturing and a Phase 1 clinical trial for IBT-T03H. Leveraging this background in MVD, AbVacc & BWV will seek to identify Marburg antigens to be presented within BWV’s VLP platform and optimize a potential vaccine candidate.

“As various epidemics continue to emerge around the world, there has never been a better time to invest in the creation of preventative vaccines,” said Joseph Hernandez, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Blue Water Vaccines. “We strongly believe in the versatility of this platform and are honored to partner with the esteemed research team at AbVacc to push these candidates forward toward clinical development.”

“The Blue Water Vaccines VLP platform is certainly an exciting opportunity for us to use our expertise in rational antigen design and preclinical development and contribute to the discovery of vaccines in high unmet need areas,” said Dr. M. Javad Aman, President and Chief Executive Officer of AbVacc. “We look forward to developing a long-lasting relationship with BWV and to advancing treatments to help patients around the world.”

While MVD and monkeypox are the initial targets for vaccine development under the collaboration, the partnership may expand to include other disease areas of interest identified by BWV and AbVacc.

MVD is caused by either Marburg virus or Ravn virus, both from the same family as Ebola viruses, and can cause outbreaks with high transmission and fatality rates. According to the World Health Organization (“WHO”), Marburg spreads through human-to-human transmission via direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs, or other bodily fluids of infected individuals or contaminated surfaces. Case fatality ratios of MVD can reach up to 88%, and there are no vaccines or antiviral treatments approved for MVD, indicating a severe unmet need for preventative and therapeutic options.

According to the WHO, monkeypox is a virus transmitted to humans from animals, with clinical symptoms like those seen in smallpox patients. Human-to-human transmission can result from close contact with respiratory secretions, skin lesions of an infected person, or recently contaminated objects. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been about 30,000 reported cases of monkeypox in the United States and about 84,000 cases globally since 2023. There are two vaccines approved for prevention of monkeypox disease in the United States, but limited availability of either vaccine resulted in increased spread of monkeypox within the U.S. and internationally.