By Jessica Szklany and Cory Nealon
BUFFALO, N.Y. – A COVID-19 vaccine candidate, under development by UB spinoff company POP Biotechnologies and South Korean biotech company EuBiologics, is moving into human trials in South Korea.
The candidate, called EuCorVac-19, is a liquid injection that can be stored and distributed at refrigerated temperatures, potentially making it easier to distribute and store than some current vaccines which must be frozen.
It was approved in January by the South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to enter a combined phase 1 and 2 clinical trial after generating strong immune responses in animal models.
The first phase will involve 50 healthy adults in Korea to evaluate the safety, tolerance and immune response to the vaccine. For the second phase, the number of participants will increase to 230 adults to further evaluate immune response and dosage. The goal is to begin a wide-scale phase 3 trial later this year.
“Commencing first-in-human trials is a monumental step forward for our technology. Achieving this critical milestone provides validation towards not only solving this unprecedented global crisis, but also provides invaluable support towards our platform’s development, further enabling the creation of new vaccines with tremendous potential to alleviate suffering worldwide,” says POP Biotechnologies President Jonathan Smyth.
Smyth co-founded the company in 2015 with then-fellow UB student Kevin Carter and Jonathan Lovell, a faculty member whose lab developed the biotechnology that is the basis of the vaccine candidate. Both Smyth, JD from the UB School of Law, and Carter, PhD from the Department of Biomedical Engineering, are UB alumni.
The company’s development of a vaccine delivery platform called SNAP (Spontaneous Nanoliposome Antigen Particleization) is what caught the attention of EuBiologics, a publicly traded firm in South Korea. The platform consists of specialized liposomes, first developed in Lovell’s lab and licensed to POP Biotechnologies through UB’s Technology Transfer office, that bind to and improve the effectiveness of vaccine antigens, which are molecules that prompt the body to produce antibodies that neutralize disease.
Prior to the pandemic, POP BIO’s primary focus for the platform was on cancer therapies and a vaccine against HIV — research that has been supported by funds from UB Center for Advanced Technology in Big Data and Health Sciences (UB CAT). At the start of the pandemic, POP BIO swiftly transitioned SNAP to discover effective vaccine candidates for COVID-19.
“Because SNAP is a vaccine platform technology, it could be applicable to any vaccine-related indication, for both chronic and infectious diseases. In-human testing for the COVID-19 vaccine will de-risk the technology for other indications too,” said Lovell, SUNY Empire Innovation Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, a joint program of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
The move from nascent startup to a biotech company whose technology is now in human trials comes after years of hard work and innovation, as well as support from UB’s entrepreneurship and technology transfer programs, from government agencies, and from investors.
In 2015, POP BIO won the Henry A. Panasci Jr. Technology Entrepreneurship Competition, created by the UB School of Management and the UB Office of Business and Entrepreneur Partnerships. It then attracted the interest of America Online co-founder Steve Case, who along with local investor z80 Labs, invested $100,000 in POP BIO in 2015 through the Rise of the Rest business plan contest.
Since 2017, the company has worked from UB’s Incubator @ Baird, a research park for startup companies. It continues to work on the HIV vaccine with Scripps Research, a project that is supported by a $600,000 National Institutes of Health contract. The team was recently awarded additional funds through UB CAT to build on the SNAP vaccine platform and explore indicators in Alzheimer’s disease.
A connection made by Business and Entrepreneur Partnerships resulted in an introduction to a key partner for POP Biotechnologies, according to Lovell. “BEP provided an entrepreneur-in-residence, who took us to a business conference where we met EuBiologics, the South Korean company who is our partner in developing the COVID-19 vaccine. We would not be at this phase in the vaccine trial without EuBiologics showing an interest in our technology and leading the charge.”
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — A COVID-19 vaccine developed in Western New York has been approved for human trials.
The vaccine, EuCorVac-19, was development by UB startup company POP Biotechnologies.
"It's a really important moment in any pharmaceutical company's development life cycle. It takes up from being a pre-clinical company to a clinical company," said Jonathan Smyth, POP Biotechnologies President.
It caught the eye of South Korean biotech company EuBiologics, which invested $3 million dollars into the effort.
The vaccine does not have to be stored at ultra-low temperatures. EuCorVac-19 also targets specific parts of the virus.
"All the current vaccines are targeting the whole, what's called the spike protein. So the whole protein on the spike, so we're just targeting the very critical part of the spike protein," Jonathan Lovell, Co-founder of POP Biotechnologies and Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at UB.
Lovell said the trial began on Tuesday in South Korea, where 50 healthy adults were given the vaccine.
"We're really just hoping that we see positive findings so we can move forward rapidly. The clinical studies have a very fast timeline because of the imminent need for more vaccines," said Smyth.
The South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approved a combined phase 1 and 2 clinical trial in January, after generating strong immune responses in animal models.
"We showed in mice that the immunogenicity was very promising," said Lovell.
In the second phase, the number of participants will go up to 230 adults to further evaluate immune response and dosage.
The goal is to begin a phase 3 trial, which would be more wide-scale, later this year.
Posted: Feb 24, 2021 / 11:45 AM EST / Updated: Feb 24, 2021 / 05:36 PM EST
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — A COVID-19 vaccine developed by a University at Buffalo (UB) startup company has been approved for human trials.
JANUARY, 2021
EuCorVac-19, a next-generation particle-based COVID-19 vaccine incorporating POP BIO's SNAP technology has gained regulatory approval for Phase I/II studies
OCTOBER, 2020
POP Biotechnologies announces formation of joint venture, EUPOP Life Sciences, in collaboration with South Korean collaborator, Eubiologics, Co., Ltd.
POP Biotechnologies (POP BIO) is pleased to announce the formation of a joint venture, EUPOP Life Sciences, located in Buffalo, NY, in collaboration with South Korean vaccine manufacturer EuBiologics Co., Ltd. The formation of this new life sciences venture is concurrent with a previously-announced multi-million-dollar investment from EuBiologics in POP BIO.
EUPOP will leverage POP BIO’s Spontaneous Nanoliposome Antigen Particleization (SNAP) vaccine platform technology, which enables rapid and streamlined generation of highly immunogenic nanoparticle vaccines, together with EuBiologics’ complementary immune enhancing EuIMT technology for the development of a series of vaccine candidates directed at respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), shingles, and Alzheimer’s disease.
In addition to the formation of EUPOP, POP BIO and EuBiologics are collaborating to address the unprecedented COVID-19 global pandemic. Supported by strong preclinical data, the two companies are combining their unique technologies to develop a highly immunogenic nanoparticle vaccine against SARS-CoV-2.
July, 2020
POP Biotechnologies announces $3M equity investment and formation of joint venture with Eubiologics for the development of an RSV vaccine
POP Biotechnologies, Inc. (POP BIO), a preclinical stage biotechnology company developing next-generation drug and vaccines products, announces that it has entered an agreement to receive a multimillion dollar equity investment from South Korean vaccine manufacturer Eubiologics Co., Ltd. (Eubiologics) in conjunction with the establishment of a joint venture, EUPOP Life Sciences.
EUPOP Life Sciences (EPLS) intends to leverage POP BIO’s SNAP platform, which enables highly streamlined generation of highly immunogenic nanoparticle vaccines, with EuBiologics immune enhancing EuIMT technology for the development of a series of vaccine candidates directed at the prevention of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), herpes zoster virus (Shingles), and Alzheimer’s disease.
RSV is the leading cause of lower respiratory tract illness (LRI) in infants and young children and is a significant cause of LRI in elderly and immunocompromised populations. In the U.S., RSV is the leading cause of hospitalization of infants, and globally, is second only to malaria as a cause of death in children under one year of age.
Presently, there are no vaccinations available for RSV and treatments options are limited. We are looking forward to working closely with Eubiologics and the EUPOP to build a vaccine pipeline that will leverage POP BIO’s next generation vaccine adjuvant. The companies believe that the combination of the novel platform technologies can generate a vaccine candidate that might save thousands of lives and help millions of patients worldwide each year.
About POP Biotechnologies, Inc.
POP Biotechnologies, Inc. is a privately held biotechnology company focused on the research and development of novel therapeutics and vaccines employing their proprietary porphyrin-phospholipid (PoP) liposome technologies. The versatile PoP platform enables the creation of light-targeted drug delivery nanoparticles, currently under evaluation for the treatment of cutaneous metastatic breast cancer, and the SNAP vaccine platform, a platform for the creation of highly-immunogenic nanoparticle vaccines. The PoP technologies, exclusively licensed from the State University of New York Research Foundation (SUNY-RF), were developed by company founder Dr. Jonathan Lovell at his academic facilities at The State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY Buffalo). POP Biotechnologies is currently a resident of the SUNY Buffalo incubator at Baird Research Park.
About POP BIO’s SNAP Technology
POP BIO’s Spontaneous Nanoliposome Antigen Particleization (SNAP) technology enables the rapid development and manufacturing of highly immunogenic particle-based vaccines through use of a cobalt modified variant of the PoP technology (CoPoP). The SNAP technology enables the stable particle-formation of virtually any recombinant antigen-bearing resulting in substantial improvements in the immune response with most antigens.
Media Inquiries / Business Development Contact:
info@popbiotech.com
November, 2019
POP Biotechnologies awarded $599,897 NIH contract for HIV vaccine development in collaboration with Scripps Research
BUFFALO, N.Y. — POP Biotechnologies Inc. (POP BIO) received a $599,897, two-year Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) under Contract No. 75N93019C00011, supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to pursue development of a potentially life-saving, life-changing technology: a vaccine candidate against HIV.
The contract supports a collaboration between POP BIO and Scripps Research, with the goal of using POP BIO’s next-generation vaccine delivery platform to enhance the performance of vaccine antigens developed by scientists at Scripps Research. The delivery platform, a liposome-based vaccine adjuvant, leverages technology that POP BIO has licensed from the State University of New York Research Foundation (SUNY-RF).
“We are combining two cutting-edge technologies to develop an experimental vaccine against HIV,” says Jonathan Smyth, president of POP BIO. “POP BIO’s vaccine delivery system is a highly efficient platform for binding and delivering antigens, which may result in a robust and lasting immune response.”
“We believe that the use of our technology, which spontaneously converts high-quality HIV-derived proteins into virus-resembling particles, could significantly boost vaccine efficacy,” says Jonathan Lovell, PhD, POP BIO co-founder and an associate professor of biomedical engineering in the University at Buffalo School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at University at Buffalo.
A novel technology for meeting a global challenge
HIV is a global challenge. Though antiretroviral medicines can help to both prevent and suppress HIV, about 1.4 to 2.3 million people worldwide acquired HIV in 2018, bringing the total number of people living with the virus to 32.7 to 44 million, according to UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that in the United States, about 38,700 people acquired HIV in 2016.
The continued transmission of HIV highlights the urgent need for a safe and effective preventative HIV vaccine.
POP BIO’s vaccine delivery platform is called SNAP (Spontaneous Nanoliposome Antigen Particleization). SNAP consists of specialized liposomes, originally developed in Lovell’s UB lab, that bind to and improve the efficacy of vaccine antigens — molecules that prompt the body to produce antibodies that neutralize disease.
In the NIH-funded project, POP BIO will partner with Richard Wyatt’s group at Scripps Research to combine SNAP liposomes with leading HIV vaccine antigens developed by Wyatt’s team. Then, scientists will test the effectiveness of the new vaccine in inducing an immune response in animals.
Wyatt, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at Scripps Research and director of viral immunology for the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative’s Neutralizing Antibody Center, headquartered at Scripps Research.