SIGA Technologies Inc announced a successful smallpox vaccine trial using SIGA’s proprietary live vector vaccine delivery system. In the study, mice immunized intranasally/orally with SIGA’s smallpox vaccine prototype showed 100 per cent immunity to vaccinia virus challenge. “Our team has been developing these innovations since 1998. The technology is real, it is practical.” said Dr. Dennis E. Hruby, chief scientific officer of SIGA.
Smallpox virus is considered one of the most significant threats for use as a biowarfare agent due to the fact that people are no longer vaccinated against it, because it is a very easily transmitted, and its high mortality rates. Mass immunizations of the general population using the current live vaccine are not recommended, as there are known complications in certain individuals from vaccination (including encephalitis, myocarditis, and death), At present there is no vaccine for smallpox that can be safely administered to the general population without significant risk of adverse reactions.
SIGA’s vaccine delivery technology is designed to activate the immune system at the body’s mucosal surfaces—the mouth, the nose, the lungs, the gastrointestinal, and the urogenital tracts-in order to prevent infection at the earliest possible stage. SIGA’s live vector system utilizes Streptococcus gordonii, a normal bacterial inhabitant of the human oral cavity, as a vehicle to deliver proteins from pathogens in order to induce immunity to infections in test animals without exposing them to the dangers of live, infectious agents. Unlike the traditional smallpox vaccine, which relies on live virus to develop immunity, SIGA’s novel vaccine delivery system may allow a person to develop immunity without having to risk exposure to dangerous infection.
“The results of this trial provide important support for our efforts to develop a safe and effective vaccine for smallpox,” said Dr. Hruby. SIGA is exploring the opportunity to possibly divest certain vaccine assets, including selected vaccine assets acquired from Plexus Vaccine Inc., which are not part of SIGA’s core vaccine programs. No assurance can be given whether or on what terms such a divestiture may be made.