Frontier Ip Regulatory News (FIPP)

RNS REACH / RNS

AIM: FIPP

25 January 2019

Frontier IP Group Plc

("Frontier IP" or the "Group")

Portfolio news - The Vaccine Group wins Department of Health and Social Care grant to combat antimicrobial-resistant disease

Frontier IP, a specialist in commercialising university intellectual property, today announces portfolio company The Vaccine Group ("TVG" or the "Company"), has won a £403,000 grant as part of a £1.46 million Anglo-Chinese project to combat an emerging antibiotic-resistant disease able to jump from pigs to humans with potentially fatal effect.

The project, funded by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and administered by Innovate UK, will develop TVG's novel herpesvirus-based platform technology to create a single-use vaccine for use in pigs. The work will be undertaken with Chinese partners, including the Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. A major producer of swine and poultry vaccines, the Pulike Biological Engineering Company, is the commercial partner.

The vaccine will target a bacterium called Streptococcus suis (S.suis), which can cause meningitis, blood poisoning, or septicaemia, as well as many other serious diseases in humans. Incidents have been rising globally and in Asia it is now classified as an emerging threat. The disease is currently treated with antibiotics, but there is growing evidence that S.suis is becoming resistant to them. Effective vaccines remove the need to use antibiotics in animals.

The University of Plymouth spin out was founded by Dr Michael Jarvis, Associate Professor of Immunology and Virology at the university's Institute of Translational and Stratified Medicine. Frontier IP holds a 19.2 per cent stake in the Company.

TVG's technology is based on safe forms of herpesviruses, which occur in nearly all animals, including humans. The vaccines are created by modifying these viruses through inserting regions of the pathogen being targeted to stimulate immune responses against the disease.

The grant was awarded as part a bilateral research competition between the DHSC's Global antimicrobial resistance (AMR) Innovation Fund and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology: UK-China partnerships against antimicrobial resistance get funding

A review by economist Lord O'Neill estimated that AMR caused 700,000 deaths each year globally.

Professor Dame Sally Davies, England's Chief Medical Officer, said: "Drug resistant infections claim hundreds of thousands of lives across the globe. An innovative and international response is vital - this latest collaboration between the UK and China guarantees much needed research to address the complex and world-wide issue of AMR."

Dr Kath Mackay, Interim Director - Ageing Society, Health & Nutrition, Innovate UK said: "Antimicrobial resistance is one of the biggest global challenges in healthcare. It has been estimated that the AMR threat could lead to 10 million extra deaths a year and cost the global economy up to £75 trillion by 2050.

This partnership between China and the UK's world-leading bio-industry is a vital contribution to tacking this issue through international co-operation."

TVG founder and director Associate Professor Michael Jarvis said: "Vaccination to control bacterial diseases has been shown to be really effective in the fish industry, and it does this without increasing bacterial resistance to antibiotics (AMR). We're therefore very excited about the opportunity this grant gives to expand this approach to a major bacterial disease of pigs that is increasingly being spread to humans.

AMR and emerging infectious disease are global problems, and this grant also demonstrates the strength of bringing together scientists and stakeholders from across the globe to address common societal issues.

This exciting development supports the novel approach The Vaccine Group has towards creating new vaccines to combat the spread of dangerous diseases from one animal species to another."

Frontier IP chief executive officer Neil Crabb said: "TVG's novel vaccine technology has the potential to play a material role in beating the threats of antimicrobial resistance and, more widely, from life-threatening diseases which infect animals and then jump to humans."

ENQUIRIES

ABout frontier IP

Frontier IP unites science and commerce by identifying strong intellectual property and accelerating its development through a range of commercialisation services. A critical part of the Group's work is involving relevant industry partners at an early stage of development to ensure technology meets real world demands and needs.

The Group looks to build and grow a portfolio of equity stakes and licence income by taking an active involvement in spin-out companies, including support for fund raising and collaboration with relevant industry partners at an early stage of development.

Frontier IP is the commercialisation partner for the University of Plymouth.

ABOUT INNOVATE UK

Innovate UK is the UK's innovation agency. It works with people, companies and partner organisations to find and drive the science and technology innovations that will grow the UK economy. For further information visit www.innovateuk.gov.uk 

ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF PLYMOUTH

The University of Plymouth is renowned for high quality, internationally-leading education, research and innovation.

With a mission to Advance Knowledge and Transform Lives, Plymouth is a *top 50 research university with clusters of world class research across a wide range of disciplines including marine science and engineering, medicine, robotics and psychology. A twice winner of the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher Education, the University of Plymouth continues to grow in stature and reputation.

It has a strong track record for teaching and learning excellence and has one of the highest numbers of National Teaching Fellows of any UK university. With 21,000 students, and a further 17,000 studying for a Plymouth degree at partner institutions in the UK and around the world, and over 100,000 alumni pursuing their chosen careers globally, it has a growing global presence.

http://www.plymouth.ac.uk

* Research Fortnight Research Power League Table 2014.

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