The partnership will use IDRI’s synthetic adjuvants in conjunction with Soligenix’s proprietary subunit proteins and thermostability platform (known as ThermoVax).
Soligenix president and chief executive officer Christopher Schaber said, "We believe that with the addition of IDRI’s potent adjuvants to our hyperimmunogenic anthrax and ricin toxin vaccines, we will have the potential to develop highly competitive biodefense vaccines that can address the exact needs of the US government with regard to rapid onset immunity with just one or two doses."
Initially the combination will evaluate the combination of one of IDRI’s adjuvant compounds that has been shown to enhance the generation of high titer neutralizing antibodies to anthrax toxin with Soligenix’s second generation Dominant Negative Inhibitor subunit protein anthrax vaccine candidate, VeloThrax.
The second developmental objective is to evaluate the combination of an IDRI adjuvant with formulations of RiVax, Soligenix’s vaccine against ricin toxin under development.
The research will initially be conducted under Soligenix’s existing $9.4m National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease grant.