Benzinga | Jul 27, 2021 11:13AM EDT

Tonix Pharmaceuticals Announces Agreement to Acquire Infectious Disease R&D Facility to Accelerate Development of Vaccines and Antiviral Drugs

R&D Facility in Frederick, MD is Expected to Provide Internal Capacity to Discover and Develop Vaccines and Antiviral Drugs Against COVID-19, its Variants and Other Infectious Diseases



Facility, Currently Owned and Operated by Tonix Partner Southern Research, has Housed Research Relating to Tonix's COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate, TNX-1800 and Smallpox and Monkeypox Vaccine Candidate, TNX-801

Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:TNXP) (Tonix or the Company), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, today announced the signing of a Purchase and Sale Agreement to acquire an approximately 48,000 square foot research and development (R&D) facility in Frederick, MD to support Tonix's expanding infectious disease pipeline, including TNX-1800, a live replicating viral vaccine designed to protect against COVID-19, TNX-801, a live vaccine designed to protect against smallpox and monkeypox, and TNX-3500, a small molecule antiviral to inhibit replication of SARS-CoV-2.

Tonix agreed to purchase the R&D facility from Southern Research, a research collaboration partner for TNX-1800 and TNX-801 development. The facility currently operates at biosafety level 2 (BSL-2) containment. Pending transfer and approval of relevant permits, Tonix expects the transaction to close and the facility to be operational in the fourth quarter of 2021. Southern Research plans to consolidate its research activities at its Birmingham, AL campus. Tonix and Southern Research plan to continue those aspects of their collaboration on the development of vaccines and antivirals that are ongoing at the Birmingham, AL campus.