(Alliance News) - Scancell Holdings PLC on Friday said it has selected Cobra Biologics to manufacture Scancell's Covid-19 vaccine in 2021.
Shares in cancer and infectious disease treatment developer Scancell were up 1.6% at 17.01 pence each in London. Year-to-date the stock has more than doubled from 7.24p on December 31.
Under a collaboration agreement, Cobra will produce plasmid DNA needed to generate the DNA vaccine, against SARS-CoV-2, for use in Scancell's Phase 1 clinical trial Covidty in 2021.
Scancell Chief Executive Officer Cliff Holloway said: "Our collaboration with Cobra is critical to us moving forward with our novel SARS-CoV-2 vaccine into the planned Phase 1 clinical trial, Covidty. Cobra has the expertise needed to produce clinical grade plasmid at scale and we look forward to working with them to advance our vaccine and demonstrate its potential effectiveness and protection against COVID-19."
The company's DNA vaccine will target the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein plus the key receptor binding domain of the spike protein to generate both T cell responses and virus neutralising antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
"This new vaccine has the potential to provide long lasting immunity against COVID-19 by generating protection not only against this strain, but also against new strains of coronavirus that may arise in the future," Scancell said.
The Covid vaccine project is funded by an Innovate UK grant awarded to a consortium between Scancell, the University of Nottingham and Trent University.
Cobra Biologics is a unit of Cognate BioServices, a Memphis, Tennessee-based manufacturer of biological materials and pharmaceuticals.
By Tapan Panchal; tapanpanchal@alliancenews.com
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