CEPI to Provide Funding to Support the Development of Self-amplifying mRNA Vaccine Technology for Application against Disease X

CEPI and Pune-based Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd announced a new funding agreement to advance the development of their self-amplifying mRNA (saRNA) platform to develop vaccine candidates against unknown pathogenic threats, also known as Disease X. CEPI will contribute up to USD 3.6 million to help optimise the saRNA-platform technology, production method, and yield. A vaccine candidate against the rabies virus, a member of the Rhabdoviridae family of viruses, will next be developed for preclinical testing.

Testing the vaccine candidate against this recognised virus with established correlates of protection will aid in evaluating the concepts underlying this novel technology. This funding is part of CEPI's programme to support novel RNA vaccine platform technologies for emerging and select endemic infectious diseases. These technologies may offer significant advantages over existing mRNA technologies, such as multivalency, improved immunogenicity, storage and stability, productivity, response time, and cost-of-goods.

The saRNA vaccine platform developed by Gennova could be one of a collection of RNA technologies supported by CEPI that could enable rapid responses to future epidemics and pandemic risks, potentially within 100 days of detection. Rather than injecting the pure antigen (a foreign substance that produces an immune response), self-amplifying mRNA vaccines use the body's own machinery to produce antigenic protein. Dr Melanie Saville, executive director of Vaccine R&D said, “Advances in RNA-vaccine technology were critical to the global response to Covid-19 and will be crucial for future epidemic and pandemic responses. Dr Sanjay Singh, chief executive officer, said, “We are very pleased to be entering into a funding agreement with CEPI.

Gennova’s decade-long collaborations with eminent research institutes across the world like the US FDA, NIH, JHU, OSU, WEHI, LSHTM, SSI etc. in the field of infectious diseases and vaccinology, prepared Gennova to rise to the challenge of making an mRNA-based pandemic ready manufacturing platform. Gennova Biopharmaceuticals has developed an mRNA-based platform technology for Covid-19 vaccines, including India's first mRNA vaccine, GEMCOVAC-19. Gennova has also developed an Omicron-specific vaccine, GEMCOVAC-OM, as a booster dose. Both vaccines have received Emergency Use Authorization from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), highlighting their safety and efficacy in combating the pandemic.