Ology Bioservices Inc. (Ology Bio), a biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), has announced that the Department of Defense (DOD), through the Joint Science and Technology Office of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), has awarded the company with a contract to manufacture a novel live attenuated tularemia vaccine. The contract value is $6.3 million.
The vaccine candidate ATI-1701 (F. tularensis ΔclpB) is a novel attenuated version derived from the virulent SCHU S4 strain of tularemia. Appili Therapeutics (TSX: APL; OTCQX: APLIF), an infectious disease-focused biotechnology company, holds the world-wide license of the candidate and serves as the sponsor of the product-candidate. In this program, Ology Bio will manufacture the vaccine candidate under Current Good Manufacturing Practice guidelines and perform a safety assessment using a rabbit model.
“Ology Bio is pleased to be working with the DOD and our colleagues at Appili Therapeutics to advance this important new vaccine candidate,” said Dr. Peter Khoury, President and CEO at Ology Bio. “Tularemia remains an important biological threat but to date no licensed vaccine exists to protect against this disease.”
“ATI-1701 is an important part of our anti-infective pipeline program, and we are very grateful for the continued support from DTRA and our partners at Ology Bio to advance this program for the benefit of civilian and military populations,” said Dr. Armand Balboni, Chief Executive Officer, Appili Therapeutics.
