Benzinga | Jul 22, 2021 09:01AM EDT

GeoVax Announces Presentation Of Sudan Ebolavirus Vaccine Data At American Society For Virology Annual Meeting

GeoVax Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:GOVX), a biotechnology company specializing in developing human vaccines, today announced the presentation of data from a study of its preventive vaccine against Sudan Ebolavirus (SUDV). The presentation titled "A single immunization of guinea pigs with a modified vaccinia Ankara virus producing Sudan virus-like particles protects from Sudan virus lethal challenge," was delivered by Dr. Delphine Malherbe of the Bukreyev Lab, Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, during the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Virology, being held virtually July 19-23.

In her talk, Dr. Malherbe discussed the preclinical efficacy studies of GeoVax's vaccine (MVA-SUDV-VLP), a novel vaccine candidate for SUDV constructed on an MVA vector expressing two immunogens (GP and VP40) derived from the Sudan virus. Upon vaccination, these immunogens form Virus Like Particles (VLPs) in the host, which in turn induce immunity against subsequent infections with SUDV. Immunogenicity and efficacy of MVA-SUDV-VLP were tested in a guinea pig lethal challenge model, in which a single intramuscular dose of the GeoVax vaccine protected 100% of animals challenged with a lethal dose of SUDV. A comparison between prime and prime-boost vaccinations of guinea pigs with MVA-SUDV-VLP showed that both regimens elicited SUDV-specific binding and neutralizing antibody responses, and that the second immunization enhanced these responses. Challenge of vaccinated animals with guinea pig-adapted SUDV demonstrated a complete protection against death and disease by the prime and the prime-boost regimens. Importantly, there was no difference in outcomes between the prime and the prime-boost vaccine regimens thus demonstrating the efficacy of a single dose of MVA-SUDV-VLP. This is the first report that a replication-deficient MVA vector may confer full protection against SUDV after a single dose.

"The level of protection against Sudan virus we observed was remarkable," commented Alexander Bukreyev, PhD, Professor, Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas.

David Dodd, GeoVax President and CEO, further commented, "The presentation of data from this study further validates our platform and approach to addressing Sudan virus, and we look forward to advancing our vaccine to non-human primate testing. Previously, our novel vaccine against Ebola virus achieved 100% single-dose protection in a nonhuman primate lethal challenge model and we have consistently validated our vaccine platform capability against other infectious pathogens, resulting in vaccine candidates that have demonstrated 100% preclinical protection in a single dose, without the need for adjuvants. Such attributes are critically important when developing vaccines against emergent epidemic threats."