IBio, which focuses on the development and commercialization of novel plant-made products for the prevention and treatment of serious infectious diseases, has granted a commercial, royalty-bearing license to Fiocruz/Bio-Manguinhos of Brazil to develop, manufacture and sell certain vaccines based upon the company's proprietary technology. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but investors drove iBio's stock up 19 percent to close at $5.85 on Tuesday, DelawareOnline notes. The license covers the nations of Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa.
Fiocruz/Bio-Manguinhos will invest more than $6 million to bring the first product, a new yellow fever vaccine, through Phase I clinical trials. Product development will be performed through a commercial collaboration that involves iBio, Fiocruz/Bio-Manguinhos and the Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology (FCMB).
IBio's technology infuses genes into plants to create proteins for vaccines and was developed at the FCMB. The companies are involved in early stage studies of vaccines for H1N1 and H5N1. Those studies are viewed as proof-of-concept trials to assist in the marketing of the companies' technology, DelwareOnline reports.
"Current vaccines for yellow fever are produced in chicken eggs from a live, attenuated strain of the yellow fever virus," says Vidadi Yusibov, chief scientific officer of iBio and executive director of FCMB. "We are confident our technology for producing vaccines will significantly help to protect a broader audience against this serious disease."
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