Antigen Discovery to identify biomarkers associated with protection against malaria

The grant, in addition to Phase I SBIR grant, will support a collaborative research effort between ADi and Sanaria to use ADi’s proteome microarrays to identify biomarkers associated with responses to the administration of Sanaria’s malaria products in human trials including Sanaria PfSPZ Vaccine , Sanaria PfSPZ Challenge, and Sanaria PfSPZ-CVac.

Antigen Discovery founder and chairman and principal investigator Philip Felgner said by comparing the serum antibody profiles from vaccines who are protected with those who are not, the company aims to identify surrogate antibody biomarkers associated with sporozoite vaccine mediated protection.

"Such markers are a critically important component of vaccine development," Felgner added.

Sanaria founder and chief scientific officer Stephen Hoffman said, "This is an unprecedented opportunity to exploit ADi’s unique technology to advance our understanding of protective immunity against malaria, and thereby accelerate development and licensure of a highly effective malaria vaccine."

In addition, serum samples will be analyzed from clinical studies conducted at Netherlands-based Radboud University Nijmengen Medical Center (RUNMC), in which volunteers were completely protected after being immunized by the bite of mosquitoes carrying viable (non-irradiated) PfSPZ while taking chloroquine chemoprophylaxis to prevent blood stage infection.

RUNMC director Robert Sauerwein said, "This is a very exciting opportunity to gain significant insights into how PfSPZ works to provide robust protection against malaria."