Benzinga | Nov 24, 2020 06:33AM EST

MediciNova Announces Initiation Of Master Virus Seed Stock Production For Its Intranasal COVID-19 Vaccine Using BC-PIV Vector Technology

LA JOLLA, Calif., Nov. 24, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MediciNova, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company traded on the NASDAQ Global Market (NASDAQ:MNOV) and the JASDAQ Market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (Code Number: 4875), today announced that Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)-based Master Virus Seed Stock (MVSS) production of its novel intranasal SARS-CoV-2 vaccine for COVID-19, using BC-PIV technology, has been initiated at Millipore Sigma BioReliance Services, a group company of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany.



Yuichi Iwaki, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of MediciNova, Inc. commented, "We are pleased to begin production of MVSS, a key step in the production of vaccines, at Millipore Sigma BioReliance Services. We look forward to producing an effective intranasal COVID-19 vaccine and reporting additional development progress in the near future."

About Master Virus Seed Stock (MVSS)

MVSS is a seed virus necessary to produce BC-PIV/S. By infecting MVSS to the packaging cells, BC-PIV/S is produced, which is then recovered and purified to produce the BC-PIV SARS-CoV-2 vaccine for clinical studies.