Dutch biotechnology company Mucosis BV announced today that it has entered into a collaboration agreement with the global health nonprofit organization PATH to pursue the use of the company’s Mimopath technology in oral vaccines to prevent and treat severe diarrhea.
Severe dehydrating diarrhea is the second leading cause of death in children in developing countries and frequently causes disease in travelers visiting those areas. Shigella and enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) are the leading bacterial causes of diarrhea. Currently, no vaccines against those bacteria exist. PATH supports the development of Shigella and ETEC vaccines.
Because Mimopath-based vaccines have the potential to raise a strong immune response in the gut after oral administration, PATH is supporting Mucosis to establish proof of concept in animals. PATH will cover the company’s research costs up to US$600,000. If proof of concept is generated, the collaboration may be expanded.
Mucosis’s Mimopath technology is based on Lactococcus lactis, a safe bacterium commonly used in the food industry. Mucosis has developed a robust technique to formulate the L. lactis bacteria into non-living bacterium-like particles (BLPs) that can be loaded with antigens from viral, bacterial, parasitic or tumour origin. The antigen-covered BLPs form a vaccine that can be delivered into the nose or mouth, without the need for a needle. These vaccines raise protective immunity by activation of both the innate and the adaptive immune system.
“We are very proud to collaborate with PATH in applying our technology to the vital task of finding new vaccines targeting the threat of Shigella and ETEC,” said Govert Schouten, CEO of Mucosis.
Mucosis already collaborates with PATH on intranasal pneumococcal vaccines based on Mimopath. This programme started in 2009.
Mucosis BV
