Month: August 2021

Oral vaccines and biotherapeutics company strengthens senior leadership team with new role to drive priority development programmes Burgess Hill, UK, 14 June 2021—iosBio (‘the Company’), a UK-based biotechnology company developing next-generation vaccines that can be administered orally, today announces the appointment of Patricia Londono-Hayes, PhD, as Chief Development Officer.

With more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector, Patricia is a leader in vaccines and biologics product development. She brings extensive experience in the progression of vaccine candidates from initial concept into first-in-human testing, advancement of clinical development and licensing.

In her role, Patricia will lead the development and execution of iosBio’s pipeline strategy, as the Company moves into its next stage of growth. In January 2021 iosBio signed an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement granting ImmunityBio rights to its OraPro™ vaccine platform technology for the oral delivery of ImmunityBio’s second-generation human Adeno (hAd5) COVID-19 vaccine candidate. iosBio’s second priority programme, OraPro-Flu – a thermally stable, orally-delivered, quadrivalent seasonal influenza vaccine – is currently in preclinical studies and expected to enter the clinic later this year.

Across her career, Patricia has directed global programmes, teams, and partnerships at scientific, strategic, and operational levels, contributing to the development and licensing of vaccines spanning a broad range of indications including influenza and a variety of respiratory, gastro-intestinal, genitourinary, and nosocomial infections.

Patricia joins iosBio from Sanofi Pasteur, where she held positions of increasing responsibility, most recently as Head of External R&D Initiatives and Scientific Affairs, Europe, where she led the strategy and implementation of external R&D public‐private partnerships and alliances. During her tenure, she spearheaded multi million Euro investments in R&D partnerships between the company and other vaccine manufacturers, leading academic institutions, the EU and the Gates Foundation. Prior to that, she was Head of Global Preclinical Research & Development Department and Leader of the Universal Influenza Vaccine Project at the company, overseeing, translational, preclinical, and clinical pharmacology research. Before joining Sanofi Pasteur, Patricia worked at vaccine company Acambis, where she founded and directed the Immunology Research Department and initiated research programs in oral vaccines.

She gained her PhD in Biochemistry and Immunology from Imperial College London and holds an MSc in Molecular Biology and Genetic Manipulation and a BSc in Microbiology from the University of Sussex and University of Los Andes, respectively.

Executive Chairman of iosBio, Wayne Channon said: “With her impressive track record in vaccine development, I am delighted to welcome Patricia to iosBio. Her breadth of experience in leading vaccines programmes from idea through to clinical development will be critical as we pursue our mission to lead the way in next generation, oral vaccines.”

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Patricia Londono-Hayes commented: “I am thrilled to be joining iosBio at such an exciting stage, with the Company’s OraPro™ vaccine platform technology being investigated in trials of what could be the first oral COVID-19 vaccine. iosBio’s science has the potential to truly transform vaccine development and to overcome the global challenges of traditional vaccines. I am delighted to be joining such an experienced and innovative team and look forward to working together on IosBio’s vision to bring orally administered, thermally stable vaccines to people around the world.”

Ends

For further information please contact:

Consilium Strategic Communications

Mary-Jane Elliott, Melissa Gardiner, David Daley

IosBio@consilium-comms.com

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3709 5700

NOTES FOR EDITORS

About iosBio

iosBio is a UK based biotechnology company developing next generation vaccines that can be administered orally.

The Company’s proprietary OraPro™ thermal stabilization technology enables the oral administration of thermally stable, non-replicating viral vectors that can be delivered sublingually via the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and other routes. These vaccine vectors are engineered to withstand temperatures of up to 50 degrees and the hostile conditions in the stomach without loss of efficacy and providing long term product stability at ambient temperatures. iosBio is developing vaccines designed to stimulate mucosal, systemic and T cell immune responses, providing robust immunity to a number of infectious diseases including COVID-19, Zika and influenza.

In January 2021 iosBio announced an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with ImmunityBio, Inc. a US-based, privately held clinical-stage immunotherapy company, for iosBio’s OraPro™ vaccine platform technology currently being investigated in a Phase Ib trial of ImmunityBio’s secondgeneration human Adeno (hAd5) COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

iosBio is headquartered in Burgess Hill, UK. For more information visit: iosbio.com

Development Officer

 

iosBio signs exclusive worldwide licensing agreement granting ImmunityBio rights to OraPro™ oral vaccine platform technology for COVID-19

• iosBio licenses its OraPro^TM thermal stabilization technology to ImmunityBio for oral delivery of ImmunityBio’s second generation hAd5 vaccine candidate to protect against COVID-19 
• ImmunityBio’s oral T cell vaccine candidate could potentially address mutations in the spike (S) protein

Burgess Hill, UK, January 12, 2021—iosBio (‘the Company’),a UK-based biotechnology company developing next-generation vaccines that can be administered orally, today announced an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with ImmunityBio, Inc. a US-based, privately-held clinical-stage immunotherapy company, for iosBio’s OraPro™ vaccine platform technology currently being investigated in trials of ImmunityBio’s second-generation human Adeno (hAd5) COVID-19 vaccine candidate. 

OraPro™ is iosBio’s patented oral delivery vaccine platform technology that enables oral administration of thermally-stable, viral vector vaccines. These vaccine vectors are engineered to withstand temperatures of up to 50°C, allowing them to pass through the hostile conditions in the stomach without loss of efficacy and providing long-term product stability at ambient temperatures. Oral administration delivers the vaccine directly to mucosal associated lymphoid tissue (MALT), generating mucosal, systemic and T-cell immune responses. 

Under the terms of the licensing agreement, iosBio has granted ImmunityBio exclusive rights to utilize its OraPro™ platform technology for the oral delivery of ImmunityBio’s human Adeno (hAd5) COVID-19 vaccine candidate. 

iosBio will be eligible to receive royalties on net worldwide sales of the approved oral vaccine. 

In a BARDA-sponsored study of vaccinated non-human primates, subcutaneous and room temperature oral formulations of ImmunityBio’s vaccine candidate inhibited SARS-CoV-2 virus replication to undetectable levels and cleared infection within days in 100% of vaccinated animals (10 of 10). The vaccine candidate, which delivers both outer spike (S) and inner nucleocapsid (N) antigens, induced T cells and antibodies leading to reduction of SARS-CoV-2 viruses in both lungs and nasal passages within seven days. The oral capsule formulation of the vaccine candidate was effective at room temperature in the non-human primate study suggesting that it may not require the cold chain logistics that can impede global distribution.

Pending ImmunityBio’s discussions with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the oral vaccine will enter Phase I trials as a prime and boost, and will be explored to provide a boost to subcutaneous vaccinations. Twenty participants have already completed testing in ImmunityBio’s Phase I trial at Hoag Hospital Newport Beach, California, which evaluated both low and high doses of subcutaneous hAd5, with zero grade 3/4 adverse events reported.

Chairman of iosBio, Wayne Channon, said: “We are delighted to be able to support ImmunityBio with the oral delivery of its second-generation COVID-19 vaccine candidate, through the licensing of our OraPro thermal stabilization technology. This technology is key to developing vaccines that can be administered orally without loss of efficacy and has the potential to truly transform vaccine development.

“Oral vaccines have the potential to overcome global challenges of traditional vaccines, many of which need to be stored and transported at freezing temperatures. Oral vaccines are more cost effective to produce and can be easily stored and transported around the world. They also have the potential to be self-administered, reducing health systems’ dependency on trained health professionals to run immunisation programmes and present a future where people could have vaccines delivered straight to their door.”

Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D., Chairman and CEO of ImmunityBio, said: “As we see multiple mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, there is an urgent need for a vaccine that not only offers immediate protection but also activates T cells to clear the virus. When multiple mutations occur at the receptor-binding domain of the spike protein, it renders antibodies ineffective. Our next-generation vaccine design drives both antibody and T cells to S and N protein, and so could potentially serve as a universal boost to current vaccines that focus only on the monovalent S protein, as well as address future mutations of the S protein. 

“It is also critical to develop a room-temperature, stable oral formulation of the vaccine, one that will provide mucosal immunity. We’re doing that with iosBio’s unique oral vaccine delivery platform technology that has the potential to transform the way people take vaccines and addresses the challenges of storage and global distribution of vaccines. In our BARDA-sponsored, non-human primate challenge study, administering the oral formulation as a boost achieved 100 percent viral protection against a challenge and induced both memory B cells and Th1-dominant T cells, which cleared the virus. We are now moving urgently through clinical development in the US and globally.”

Ends

For further information please contact:

Consilium Strategic Communications 

Mary-Jane Elliott, Melissa Gardiner, David Daley,

IosBio@consilium-comms.com

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3709 5700 

NOTES FOR EDITORS

About iosBio

iosBio is a UK based biotechnology company developing next generation vaccines that can be administered orally. 

The Company’s proprietary OraPro™ thermal stabilization technology enables the oral administration of thermally stable, non-replicating viral vectors that can be delivered sublingually via the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and other routes. These vaccine vectors are engineered to withstand temperatures of up to 50 degrees, allowing them to pass through the hostile conditions in the stomach without loss of efficacy and providing long term product stability at ambient temperatures. 

iosBio is developing vaccines designed to stimulate mucosal, systemic and T cell immune responses, providing robust immunity to a number of infectious diseases including COVID-19, Zika and influenza.

iosBio is headquartered in Burgess Hill, UK. For more information visit: iosbio.com

About ImmunityBio 

ImmunityBio, Inc. is a late-clinical-stage immunotherapy company developing next-generation therapies that drive immunogenic mechanisms for defeating cancers and infectious diseases. The company’s immunotherapy platform activates both the innate (natural killer cell and macrophage) and adaptive (T cell) immune systems to create long-term “immunological memory.” This novel approach is designed to eliminate the need for high-dose chemotherapy, improve upon the outcomes of current CAR T-cell therapies, and extend beyond checkpoint inhibitors.

ImmunityBio’s platform is based on the foundation of three separate modalities: antibody cytokine fusion proteins, synthetic immunomodulators, and second-generation human adenovirus (hAd5) vaccine technologies.

Anktiva™ (ImmunityBio’s lead cytokine infusion protein) is a novel interleukin-15 (IL-15) superagonist complex and has received Breakthrough Therapy and Fast Track Designations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for BCG-unresponsive CIS non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). The company is also in Phase 2 or 3 trials for indications such as first- and second-line lung cancer, triple-negative breast cancer, metastatic pancreatic cancer, recurrent glioblastoma, and soft tissue sarcoma in combination with the company’s synthetic immune modulator (aldoxorubicin).

ImmunityBio is also developing therapies, including vaccines, for the prevention and treatment of HIV, influenza, and the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 with its second-generation human adenovirus (hAd5) vaccine technologies.

NantKwest Transaction

As previously announced, on December 21, 2020, ImmunityBio entered into an agreement to combine in a stock-for-stock transaction with NantKwest, Inc. (NASDAQ: NK). The combination, which is expected to close in the first half of 2021, would create a leading immunotherapy and cell therapy company focused on oncology and infectious disease.