$4M grant drives Oxford's SpyBiotech latest clinical trials application

By Tom Kilkelly

21 September 2023

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SpyBiotech, the Oxford biotech specialising in novel vaccine platform technology, has filed a clinical trial application with the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products regulatory agency (MHRA) to evaluate SPYVLP01.

SPYVLP01 is a vaccine targeting the common virus human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) using its Hepatitis B virus-like-particle platform technology. There is currently no approved vaccine against HCMV.

The phase 1 clinical trial’s primary objective is to evaluate several formulations of the company’s HCMV vaccine, with a target enrollment of approximately 120 participants.

An initial participant is expected to be dosed later this year with clinical data emerging in the first half of 2024.

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Just six months ago, in March, the firm announced that it had been given a $4,094,561 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The submission of this application marks another achievement in an already successful year for SpyBiotech.

Sumi Biswas, Ph.D., President and Chief Scientific Officer of SpyBiotech, said: “Submission of our clinical trial application to evaluate SPYVLP01 marks important progress in the fight against the HCMV virus, a leading infectious cause of congenital abnormalities.

“We believe in the potential of the SpyVLP vaccine platform technology. While our lead program is focused on HCMV, our vaccine technology can be applied to generate vaccines against a wide range of pathogens and therapeutic indications.”

“The MHRA trial application is a strong next step in the development of our cost-effective and highly scalable vaccine technology.

“There is great need for medical progress against HCMV. There is no currently approved vaccine against this betaherpesvirus that can cause lifelong infection in humans.”

By Tom Kilkelly

Tom Kilkelly started working as a freelance journalist for The Business Magazine following his graduation from UCL in 2022.

During his studies Tom became very interested in the works of Irish authors including Samuel Beckett and Flann O'Brien (Brian O'Nolan).

His current role as a freelance business reporter is his first exposure to the world of business journalism. Working at TBM has given Tom the chance to really get to grips with the goings-on in the business hive that is the South East.