ProBioGen and City of Hope Announce Commercial License Agreement to Use AGE1.CR.pIX® Vaccine Manufacturing Platform for Cytomegalovirus (CMV) Vaccine

ProBioGen and City of Hope Announce Commercial License Agreement to Use AGE1.CR.pIX® Vaccine Manufacturing Platform for Cytomegalovirus (CMV) Vaccine

BERLIN, Germany and LOS ANGELES, USA, September 7, 2022 / B3C newswire / -- ProBioGen and City of Hope, one of the largest cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States, announced today a non-exclusive commercial license agreement that will allow City of Hope to manufacture its innovative synthetic MVA-based CMV vaccine using ProBioGen's cell-based and scalable viral manufacturing platform AGE1.CR.pIX.

Choosing the right production platform is a critical step for the development and manufacturing of a viral vaccine candidate. AGE1.CR.pIX has proven industrial and biological properties that are optimized for this purpose. It grows in suspension in a chemically-defined medium and has been designed to meet health authority guidelines. Therefore, it represents a modern and cost-effective production platform for large scale manufacture of vaccines for humans and animals. "Easily scalable plug and play technology for cost-effective vaccine production is important," said Dr. Volker Sandig, ProBioGen's Chief Scientific Officer. "We are delighted to support City of Hope with our transformative viral manufacturing platform to bring this vaccine into the clinic with the goal of protecting transplant recipients and immunocompromised patients from CMV infection and disease. The agreement underlines the increasing worldwide market acceptance of our AGE1.CR.pIX cell line as a true alternative to other methods," Sandig added.

Don J. Diamond, Ph.D., the vaccine's principal investigator and co-inventor of the patents covering City of Hope's proprietary synthetic MVA vaccine platform: "City of Hope aims to accelerate our CMV vaccine program. AGE1.CR presents a versatile and robust manufacturing platform that will support a productive and flexible process. Our vaccine is truly unique as it is the only one in development that has been purposefully designed to be used to prevent congenital infections or control transplant-related infections."

Financial terms of the commercial license to use the AGE1.CR.pIX, including potential clinical milestones and future tiered royalties were not disclosed.

Link to the press release