N4 Pharma shares surge on latest from Nanomerics collaboration

(Sharecast News) - Specialist pharmaceuticals company N4 Pharma updated the market on its ongoing research collaboration agreement with Nanomerics on Thursday.
The AIM-traded firm had initiated the first phase of research to test the stability of different formulations of 'Nuvec' loaded with a well-characterised plasmid DNA, as it announced in February.

It reported on Thursday that, in addition to not degrading the plasmid DNA, Nuvec formulations that had been freeze dried and stored for 14 days either at room temperature or at four degrees Celsius, showed "no significant drop" in in-vitro transfection capability following reconstitution compared to fresh formulations.

In parallel to continued work on analysing stability duration, N4 said different formulations would now be chosen to move forward into the second phase of the work programme, testing the efficacy of the dried and reconstituted plasmid DNA in an in vivo antibody generation model.

"Demonstrating that Nuvec® loaded with a plasmid DNA can be dried, stored at convenient temperatures and reconstituted without any drop in transfection is a significant step forward in our formulation development work," said chief executive officer Nigel Theobald.

"The recent success of Pfizer and Moderna with an mRNA Covid-19 vaccine shows the potential for nucleic acid vaccines.

"However, it also highlights that these vaccines have certain limitations, in that they often require extreme storage conditions."

Theobald said that, although vaccine efficacy was primarily determined by the selected nucleic acid antigen, having a stable, easy-to-store and easy-to-use vaccine was "crucial" in helping vaccine acceptance and uptake.

"A formulation stable at room temperature or even refrigerated can represent significant cost savings in vaccine transportation, storage and administration.

"We believe, to the extent that Nuvec as a delivery platform can provide a solution in this area, it could be of significant interest to multiple vaccine developers.

"Work will continue in this area and will add to the breadth of proof of concept data we are building for the use of Nuvec® as a delivery system for vaccines and cancer treatments."

At 1237 GMT, shares in N4 Pharma were up 40% at 8.4p.