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news.LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals has been awarded a $4.6 million challenge grant from the National Institutes of Health for the preclinical advancement of their unique, intranasal vaccine against anthrax.
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LigoCyte’s intranasal anthrax vaccine is a dual-antigen vaccine that protects against both the anthrax toxin and the infectious disease process. The dry powder formulation offers the potential for long-term stability and has been shown to provide protection in rabbits from exposure to inhaled anthrax.
Early results also show the potential for the vaccine to offer protection after only a single dose, a vast improvement over the six-dose vaccine regimen currently licensed by the FDA.
LigoCyte’s dry powder, intranasal approach is also being applied to other vaccines, including LigoCyte’s Norovirus program in which the company plans to protect against viral gastroenteritis. Norovirus outbreaks (also known as the “stomach flu” or “cruise ship disease”) are a critical problem in nursing homes and hospitals, as well as military installations worldwide.
“Securing this level of a competitive NIH award validates our anthrax vaccine approach and allows us to quickly move forward in our preclinical development,” said Dr Charles Richardson, LigoCyte’s senior VP of research and development. “This funding demonstrates the value of our ongoing Department of Defense appropriations in the early development of novel biodefense vaccines.”