Author: Marc Brand

iosBio appoints Dr. Craig Laferrière as Chief Development Officer

Posted on by Marc Brand

Burgess Hill, UK, 19 May 2022 — iosBio (‘the Company’), a UK-based biotechnology company developing next-generation vaccines that can be administered orally, today announces the appointment of Dr. Craig Laferrière as Chief Development Officer, effective immediately. In his role, Craig will lead the development and execution of iosBio’s pipeline strategy, as the Company moves into its next stage of growth.

Craig is a highly experienced medical adviser, having worked for more than 25 years in vaccine design, manufacturing and licensing. He joins iosBio from CANVAX, Novateur Ventures Inc., an international vaccine consulting business, where he worked with a number of clients, including BioVac in Cape Town optimizing the manufacture of a Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) conjugate vaccine now licensed in Indonesia under the trade name Pentabio™.

Previously, Craig held the role of Medical Adviser on the Vaccine Leadership Team at Pfizer Canada. During this time, he led and implemented vaccine deployment strategies and provided in-house scientific expertise to Pfizer and other key stakeholders, including physicians, key opinion leaders and regulatory and advisory committees. Craig previously worked for GlaxoSmithKline first as a scientist and later as Therapy Area Leader in Canada, where he led the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine project from pre-clinical to successful proof-of-concept in humans. He has also worked for the National Research Council, Institute of Biological Sciences, and the National Laboratory for Immunology.

Craig holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Ottawa and a BSC Hons Degree in Chemistry from Carleton University.

Executive Chairman of iosBio, Wayne Channon said: “We are delighted to welcome Craig to the iosBio team. His breadth of experience in leading vaccine programmes from design and manufacturing through to licensing will be critical as we undertake our next phase of growth.”

Chief Development Officer Dr. Craig Laferrière, commented: “I am thrilled to be joining iosBio, whose OraPro™ oral vaccine technology has the potential to transform the way the world makes and takes vaccines. Vaccines have saved tens of millions of lives, but there remain significant global challenges due to the current limitations of traditional vaccines. I look forward to working with the iosBio team to build the Company’s growing pipeline of innovative orally administered vaccines to address these challenges and provide safe and effective vaccines that will protect people from viruses in the future.”

Ends

For further information please contact:

Consilium Strategic Communications
David Daley, Melissa Gardiner, Davide Salvi
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, influenza, Zika and Nipah.

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

Q&A on Nipah Virus with Wayne Channon, Executive Chairman

Posted on by Marc Brand

1. What exactly is Nipah Virus and how does it affect patients?

Nipah virus is a zoonotic infectious disease, meaning that it has jumped from animals to humans, like coronavirus. Nipah lives in fruit bats and can spread to humans through food and drink contaminated by fruit bat droppings. The virus was first discovered in 1999 following an outbreak of disease in pigs and people in Malaysia and Singapore. It’s part of the henipavirus genus of paramyxoviruses, similar to measles and mumps and is incredibly serious. It can kill as many as three out of four infected people so there is an extremely urgent need to develop a safe, effective and easily administered vaccine to prevent a future pandemic.

2. Why has it been deemed a future pandemic threat?

While outbreaks so far have been small and localised to parts of the Indian sub-continent as well as Asia, the opportunity for the virus to spread from fruit bats to other animals and to humans is extremely high given they are in close contact. The virus can also spread from human-to-human and is thought to do so through saliva and respiratory secretions, similar to coronavirus. It also has an incubation period in humans of up to 45 days, increasingly the likelihood of human-to-human spread. There is very little awareness about the virus, which increases the chance of outbreaks.

3. What is the funding you’ve received to progress your Nipah virus vaccine candidate?

We’ve received £288,000 in funding from the Department of Health and Social Care’s UK Vaccine Network programme, delivered by Innovate UK. It is part of a larger programme by the UK government, funded by UK Aid, to develop new vaccines and technologies to tackle diseases that have the potential to become epidemics. It’s fantastic to see the UK government thinking ahead and supporting innovation in this important and previously underserved area. The funding will be used to help us develop an oral vaccine candidate against Nipah.

4. What will the funding enable you to do?

This funding will help us to develop a tailored adenovirus vector to deliver some of the genetic material of the Nipah virus into human cells, which will trigger an immune response and stimulate the body to produce antibodies and T cells to protect against future exposure. We will be utilising our OraPro™ thermal stabilization technology to create a vaccine that can be administered orally. It will allow us to undertake preclinical studies and get the vaccine to a point where we have a candidate that’s ready to progress towards clinical testing.

5. Could you tell us more about your OraPro™ thermal stabilization technology and how it was developed?

Our OraPro™ platform technology enables us to create vaccines that can be administered orally in capsule form. It makes the viral vector thermally stable, capable of withstanding temperatures of up to 50°C, and so can pass through the hostile conditions in the stomach without loss of efficacy.

It was developed out of original work being done by our Chief Innovation Officer, Dr. Jeff Drew, to alleviate the cold chain requirements for vaccines, which results in around half of vaccines being wasted due to storage at incorrect temperatures and limits global access to vaccines, particularly to low- and middle-income countries where temperature control is expensive. The ability of our oral vaccines to withstand high temperatures removes refrigeration requirements during manufacturing, shipping and storage, and increases access.

6. What will be the biggest challenges for this vaccination programme?

The lack of awareness of the virus within the communities where the risk of infection is high is a huge challenge. Given these communities are situated in rural, difficult to reach areas, once a vaccine is approved, there will be a big challenge in shipping and storing the vaccines. An oral vaccine would be extremely advantageous in that it does not require refrigeration and can be taken in capsule form without the need for a healthcare professional.

iosBio appoints Ben Warriner as Chief Financial Officer

Posted on by Marc Brand

Burgess Hill, UK, 6 April 2022 — iosBio (‘the Company’), a UK-based biotechnology company developing next-generation vaccines that can be administered orally, is pleased to announce the appointment of Ben Warriner as Chief Financial Officer, effective 6 April 2022.

Ben is a highly experienced finance professional with more than a decade of international leadership experience working within the healthcare sector. He joins iosBio from Freeline Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on developing curative gene therapies for chronic systemic diseases. As VP of Finance, Ben successfully managed the company’s $159 million listing on NASDAQ in August 2020. He also served as Company Secretary, where he was responsible for day-to-day financial and administrative operations across the UK, US, Ireland and Germany.

Previously, Ben served in a number of senior financial roles at EUSA Pharma, a private equity backed global pharmaceutical company. During this time, he was responsible for the finance operations across the group, including working on a new product launch. Ben has previously worked for Jazz Pharmaceuticals PLC, Vantis PLC, T-Mobile and Deloitte. He holds a BSC Hons Degree in Economics from Loughborough University.

Wayne Channon, Chairman of iosBio, said: “I am delighted to welcome Ben to the iosBio team. His broad knowledge and expertise across the healthcare and financial sector will be invaluable to iosBio as we continue to advance the Company’s pipeline of safe and effective oral vaccines for infectious diseases.”

Ben Warriner, Chief Financial Officer, commented: “iosBio has the potential to transform the way we make and take vaccines and I am thrilled to be joining the Company at such an exciting time. I look forward to supporting Wayne and the rest of the iosBio team to help drive the Company’s growth as it works to deliver the future of immunization.”

Ends

 

For further information please contact:
Consilium Strategic Communications
David Daley, Melissa Gardiner, Davide Salvi
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, influenza and Zika.

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

 

iosBio receives UK grant to develop oral vaccine against Nipah virus

Posted on by Marc Brand

Zoonotic virus often cited as future pandemic threat and requiring urgent R&D action
iosBio’s oral vaccine technology offers potential breakthrough against current challenges of vaccine access globally

Burgess Hill, UK, 23 February 2022 — iosBio (‘the Company’), a UK-based biotechnology company developing next-generation vaccines that can be administered orally, has been awarded a £288,000 grant from the Department of Health and Social Care’s UK Vaccine Network programme, delivered by Innovate UK, to support the development of an oral vaccine candidate against Nipah virus (NiV) using the Company’s proprietary OraPro™ thermal stabilization technology.

The award is one of 22 successful research projects from a new £10 million research competition funded by UK government, through UK Aid, to develop new vaccines and technologies to tackle diseases with epidemic potential in low- and middle-income countries to ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of the global fight against future infectious disease outbreaks. Working with Innovate UK, this £10 million UK Vaccine Network competition is supporting clinical development of candidate vaccines, their manufacturing and delivery processes and technologies, for use in low and middle-income countries (LMICs).

NiV infection is a zoonotic illness transmitted to people from animals, through contaminated food or directly from person-to-person. It rapidly attacks the respiratory and central nervous systems, with symptoms including fever, vomiting and encephalitis (inflammation of the brain). The case fatality rate is between 40 and 75%[1].

First identified in Malaysia in 1998, outbreaks occur almost annually in parts of Asia, primarily Bangladesh and India, and while these have tended to be small NiV is often cited as a future pandemic threat and is one of the pathogens in the World Health Organization’s R&D Blueprint list of epidemic threats needing urgent R&D action[2]. Despite its notable pandemic potential, no safe and effective vaccines and therapeutics have been approved.

iosBio’s NiV oral vaccine candidate is being developed using a harmless, non-replicating adenovirus as the viral vector, genetically engineered to carry some of the genetic material from the pathogen. When administered, the viral vector vaccine would cause the body’s own cells to manufacture proteins from the NiV pathogen, provoking an immune response and stimulating production of antibodies and T cells. This means that when the body is exposed to the real pathogen, it already has the tools it needs to combat infection.

The Company’s proprietary OraPro™ platform technology engineers the vector to be thermally-stable, capable of withstanding temperatures of up to 50°C and allowing it to pass through the hostile conditions in the stomach without loss of efficacy. This ability to withstand high temperatures also provides long-term product stability and the removal of refrigeration requirements during manufacturing, shipping and storage – a potential opportunity to break through the current challenges of vaccine access globally, particularly in LMICs where temperature control is challenging and expensive.

Executive Chairman of iosBio, Wayne Channon said: “We are proud that Innovate UK and the UK government have, through their thorough review process, chosen to invest in our oral vaccine research and recognise its potential against threats from emerging infectious diseases. While the world continues to battle COVID-19, new threats are still emerging, and we must prepare for the next pandemic. By developing safe and effective oral vaccines that can be administered without the need for complex cold chain storage, health professionals or vaccination centres, we would have the opportunity to prevent or halt local outbreaks, including in some of the hardest to reach areas, before they present a pandemic risk.”

Ends

 

For further information please contact:
Consilium Strategic Communications
David Daley, Davide Salvi, Melissa Gardiner
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, influenza and Zika.

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

About the UK Vaccine Network

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) is the UK Government department which is responsible for helping people to live more independent, healthier lives for longer. This investment is part of the UK Vaccine Network (UKVN). UKVN was established to provide funding to support the development of promising vaccines and vaccine technologies that will help combat infectious diseases that have epidemic potential in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). UKVN is a £120m UK Aid investment, which means all projects funded must support research primarily and directly for the benefit of people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

[1] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/nipah-virus

[2] https://www.who.int/teams/blueprint/nipah

Q&A – Jeff Drew, Chief Innovation Officer

Posted on by Marc Brand

1. Tell us about your career before founding iosBio.

I was a relatively late starter into a scientific career. I have always been interested in science and microorganisms, but my interest wasn’t properly ignited until I undertook a technical qualification at a south Wales college. This led me to my undergraduate degree in Microbiology and Virology at Manchester University and subsequently on to a PhD in Molecular Virology from The Institute of Animal Health at Pirbright & Reading University. During my career I’ve covered a wide range of research areas including virology, cancer, gene therapy and genetic research at a number of institutions including University of Oxford, Marie Curie Research Institute, the Exotic Virus Research Laboratories at the Institute of Animal Health, and the Institute of Cancer Research.

2. How did you become interested in the field of virology?

There was always a boyhood fascination with microbiology, however my exposure to the undergraduate study of viruses re-focussed my interest and I became spellbound with how they work, are able to avoid the immune system and cause disease, and how vaccines can be used to eradicate those diseases. My first degree cemented that fascination, provided context and detail and instigated some of my early thinking of how to utilise the core features of viruses, i.e. essentially avoiding the immune system to deliver genetic information to cells, to immunise against infectious disease but also the potential to treat genetic diseases.

3. How did you come to develop iosBio’s proprietary OraPro™ technology?

Our original work at iosBio was aimed at alleviating the cold chain for vaccines, a system which often fails and leads to around 50% of all vaccines being wasted, largely due to storage at incorrect temperatures. The thermal stability our core technology provides to vaccines and viral vectors enables 25°C storage for years and 56°C for short periods of time – sufficient for cold chain free delivery to locations anywhere in the world. As we began developing our own viral vector-based pipeline we explored other routes of vaccine administration, which ultimately led to our OraPro™ technology.

4. Can you tell us a bit about how OraPro™ works?

Viral vectors are used to deliver DNA to a cell so a particular protein, such as a SARS-CoV-2 antigen or a therapeutic protein, can be produced from that cell to provide a patient with immunity or therapy. Typically, viral vectors are engineered to be non-replicating, that is they cannot make more viral vector copies of themselves within a patient’s cells, so preservation of vector activity is pivotal for maintaining efficacy.

When delivered via injection, a patient’s immune system will develop immunity to the viral vector, meaning subsequent uses of that viral vector will be less effective or have no effect in causing cells to produce the protein. However, as the gastrointestinal tract is home to a huge microbiome (bacteria, yeasts, viruses) it has intrinsic tolerance mechanisms which mean repeated use of a viral vector would be possible. However, viruses and viral vectors are typically very sensitive to both temperature and acidic environments – oral delivery of a vaccine relies on transit through the stomach for several hours at 37°C and a low pH, which would cause rapid breakdown of a viral vector.

Our OraPro™ platform combines both thermal and acidic protection for a non-replicating viral vector through the stomach and a controlled release in the small intestine where the viral vector can cause gut cells to produce antigens for vaccines or proteins for therapeutics. The oral delivery allows us to reuse our viral vector repeatedly without generation of an anti-vector response. When viewed from a patient and healthcare perspective oral medicines are much preferred and far easier to distribute.

5. Tell us about your role as Chief Innovation Officer. What does a typical day look like for you?

Whilst every day is different, typically there’s a lot of technical dialogue and data interpretation and providing scientific direction. We’re fortunate to run a closely knit scientific team where everyone supports each other & our work dovetails across our development programmes so technical debriefs are intellectually rewarding and push our science forward rapidly. I also dedicate a reasonable proportion of my time to developing new IP.

6. What excites you about iosBio?

The progression from a preclinical company into clinical company has been an incredibly rewarding time for us; building up the strength in depth of our team of scientists, expanding our manufacturing expertise to transition our technology from pilot/small scale to manufacturing at commercial scale with ImmunityBio has also been rewarding. Taking our oral delivery technology to address other vaccines and using it to increase vaccine coverage and improve their effectiveness will be incredibly exciting for me and the whole iosBio team.

7. What do you see as the biggest challenges facing vaccination programmes around the world?

The emergence of COVID-19, the rapid development of vaccines has shone a light on the two aspects that our technology address – thermal stability and reliance on needles for administration.

8. Why are oral vaccines poised to transform the future of vaccination?

Protection at the surfaces where most infectious diseases gain entry to their target is provided by the mucosal immune system. Typically, by administration of an injected vaccine a systemic level of immunity is provided, but limited mucosal immunity is generated – thus a pathogen can often still gain entry, replicate and cause onward transmission to those who are not vaccinated or immune. Oral vaccines engage with mucosal associated lymphoid tissue and Peyer’s patch to induce antibody and T cell responses both systemically and at the mucosal surfaces, ultimately resulting in enhanced protection.

From an administration perspective, oral vaccines are self-administered by the individual which means no physical contact required between the healthcare professional and the patient – in pandemic/epidemic situations this will reduce risk of transmission during the vaccination process. There’s also the possibility of vaccines being delivered by mail or door to door which has been successfully demonstrated in typhoid vaccine studies in Nigeria, Zambia and Guinea.

9. With no need for cold chain storage, tell us about the impact that oral vaccines can have on developing countries.

The WHO produced a report on vaccine wastage that showed around 50% of all vaccines are wasted. A large proportion of these are due to lack of temperature control and the logistics required for an unbroken cold chain. Thermally stable vaccines will mean all nations should have the ability to access effective vaccines for prevalent or emergent infectious diseases.

It’s also worth pointing out that this isn’t just an issue for developing countries, controlled cold chain logistics are prone to errors or failures – an audit within the USA found that 76% of vaccine centres exposed their vaccines to inappropriate temperatures, whilst in Korea recently they had to dispose of 5 million flu vaccine doses after they were stored at an incorrect temperature.

10. What are you hoping to achieve at iosBio?

The ultimate goal is to transform vaccinology through thermally robust vaccines, delivered without the need for needles, which provide the broadest immunity possible.

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The team of doctors and scientists at iosBio believe that the next great leap forward in immunization will be oral delivery


Enabling the fastest and most cost-effective deployment of vaccines the world has ever seen. This is not just a huge leap forward from a humanitarian perspective, oral vaccine technology also represents a significant commercial opportunity.

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    As the coronavirus pandemic rages on around the world, scientists are working day and night to create safe and effective vaccines that will allow life to return to normal. Although great leaps forward have been made, we are already seeing the supply chain and logistical problems of injectable vaccines that require cold or ultra cold chain storage. And as further mutations of the virus continue to emerge, the ability to tweak and readminister vaccines becomes ever more crucial.

    iosBio has partnered with US pharmaceutical company ImmunityBio to create OraPro-Covid-19, deploying our ground-breaking oral vaccine delivery platform with the aim of creating a Covid-19 vaccine that can be sent by post and swallowed at home.

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    The global seasonal influenza market is forecast to be worth $4.3bn by 2025. This figure is unsurprising considering the enormous economic costs of flu each year.

    On average, the total estimated annual economic burden of influenza to the US healthcare system and society is $11.2 billion, comprising $3.2 billion in direct medical costs and $8 billion in indirect costs. The CDC (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention) recommends that every person from the age of six months onwards has a flu vaccine, but actual vaccination coverage hovers around 50%

    In the UK, six million working days are lost to seasonal influenza in an average winter, yet uptake amongst the under-65s has been steadily declining in recent years. Many cite difficulties with getting an appointment at their GP’s surgery, where the vast majority of flu jabs are still administered.

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    Zika virus disease is caused by a virus transmitted primarily by mosquitoes, as well as through sexual contact and from mother to fetus during pregnancy. Zika infection during pregnancy can cause infants to be born with microcephaly and other congenital malformations, and is also associated with other complications including preterm birth and miscarriage. An increased risk of neurologic complications is associated with Zika virus infection in adults and children, including Guillain-Barré syndrome, neuropathy and myelitis.

    From the 1960s to 1980s, rare sporadic cases of human infections were found across Africa and Asia, typically accompanied by mild illness. The first recorded outbreak of Zika virus disease was reported from the Island of Yap in Micronesia in 2007. This was followed by a large outbreak of Zika virus infection in French Polynesia in 2013 and other countries and territories in the Pacific. In March 2015, Brazil reported a large outbreak of rash illness, soon identified as Zika virus infection, and later that year confirmed to be associated with microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome.

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