Astellas and UMN strike preliminary deal for cell cultured flu vaccines
This article was originally published in Scrip
Astellas has signed a memorandum of understanding with UMN Pharma for a licensing deal which will give it access to two of the Japanese venture’s pipeline cell cultured influenza vaccines. A definitive agreement is expected to be finalised in September.
The memorandum grants Astellas co-development and exclusive commercialisation rights in Japan to UMN-0501 and UMN-0502, which are in clinical development for H5N1 avian flu and seasonal flu respectively. Following the formal deal, Astellas will lead the ongoing programmes and bear all development costs, with UMN to be responsible for the manufacturing and supply of the final commercial products.
Both vaccines are manufactured using a novel baculovirus expression vector system, which privately held UMN licensed from the US firm Protein Sciences in 2005. The technology involves cloning the gene for the target haemagglutinin protein into a baculovirus, which is used to infect cultured cells from the fall armyworm caterpillar. These cells then express the target protein and provide relatively high antigen yields.
The main advantage of cell cultured flu vaccines is their relative speed of production, as they have a lead time of around two months, compared with six months or so for conventional egg cultivated vaccines. There is also relative safety in production as there is no need for live viral growth.
UMN-0501 has orphan status in Japan and preparations are now underway to take it into a Phase III clinical programme. UMN-0502, which contains three different flu antigens, is at the pre-Phase I/II stage. Astellas, which is looking to beef up its presence in the vaccines sector as part of its mid-term business plan, said that it expected to launch both the licensed UMN products by the end of fiscal 2014 (ending 31 March 2015).
Earlier this year, Japan’s ministry of health, labour and welfare launched a project to provide support for the development and distribution of vaccines for pandemic flu, under which UMN has been selected as one of the beneficiary companies (scripintelligence.com, 8 July 2010).
Byline(s):
Author | Name | Ian Haydock |
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