CHARLEROI, Belgium--()--During the inauguration of its new building, the Belgian Biotech Company Delphi Genetics SA announced that the first antibiotic-free DNA vaccine using the Staby® technology was efficiently tested in vivo. Together with academic and Biotech key-players, Delphi Genetics is participating to the DNAVAC project funded by the Walloon Region (BioWin project). The aim of the project is to develop and produce antibiotic-free DNA vaccines targeting veterinary diseases. As a model, the consortium developed a DNA vaccine against the Aujezsky virus the causative agent of pseudo-rabies.
“This virus was selected as it causes systematically an acute and lethal disease in susceptible species, thereby providing an excellent model to test the efficacy of a vaccine candidate. The results of the challenge performed by Dr Anca Reschner are very clear: all vaccinated animals using the Staby® vectors were resistant to the lethal Aujeszky virus.” said Prof. Alain Vanderplasschen from the University of Liège (Immunology-Vaccinology).
Cédric Szpirer PhD, Delphi Genetics co-Founder and CEO, explained: “This is the first real DNA vaccine produced using the Staby® technology. Several DNA vectors have been made in the past to generate production of antibodies, but this is the first time that in vivo tests were performed in order to evaluate efficiency against a disease. All production steps of the vaccine were performed efficiently avoiding completely the use of antibiotic-resistance genes as recommended by regulatory authorities (FDA, USDA, EMA). These results validate the use of Staby® outside the field of protein production.”
Indeed, a few weeks ago, on October, 8 Delphi Genetics announced a broad licensing agreement with a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, for the use of the StabyExpress® technology to produce proteins in the areas of human and animal health. The same technology was licensed previously to Sanofi-Pasteur (2009) and GSK (2010) for production of proteins used in human vaccines.
As announced on January, 30, 2012, the DNAVAC project involves a consortium including Eurogentec SA, another Belgian Biotech company (part of Kaneka) in charge of large scale DNA production and purification, and two universities: the Catholic University of Louvain in charge of pharmaceutical and toxicity studies associated with the project and the University of Liège in charge of vaccinology and veterinary aspects.
About Delphi Genetics SA
Founded at the end of 2001, Delphi Genetics SA develops technologies for genetic engineering and protein expression using unique expertise in the domain of plasmid stabilisation systems.
Since 2004, Delphi Genetics has been marketing innovative kits and services for researchers. Some of these kits contain the Staby® technology that has since been licensed for industrial applications (see above). Indeed, the Staby® technology can be applied to any industrial DNA or protein production process that involves bacterial fermentation. Delphi Genetics is involved in several research projects including adaptation of the technology to yeast and mammalian cells.