BEIJING and LA JOLLA, Calif., Nov. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Yisheng Biopharma Co., Ltd. (“Yisheng Biopharma”), a biopharmaceutical company focusing on research, development, manufacturing, sales and marketing of vaccine products, today announced that it has entered into a collaboration with The Scripps Research Institute (“TSRI”) to test a new generation of AIDS vaccine based on novel gp140 trimers and self-assembling nanoparticles designed by TSRI scientists and Toll-Like Receptor 3 (TLR3) agonist adjuvant technology (“PIKA”) developed by the company. The cooperative research partnership represents a new opportunity for both organizations to create more effective and safe vaccine products against HIV infection.
Under the terms of the agreement, the scientists at TSRI will evaluate the potential of PIKA adjuvant for AIDS vaccine candidates. The PIKA adjuvant is a proprietary technology developed by Yisheng Biopharma, named as part of “National Key Medicine Innovation” in 2013 by the National Ministry of Science and Technology of China. Most recently Yisheng completed Phase II and Phase I clinical studies of PIKA based rabies and hepatitis B vaccines, respectively, which exhibited promising efficacy and safety in human subjects.
“TSRI has gained a great deal of expertise in AIDS research which lays the groundwork in revolutionizing vaccine design strategy,” commented Assistant Professor Jiang Zhu at TSRI. “TLR-3 agonists such as PIKA adjuvant are known to enhance immune responses. When used together with highly optimized HIV vaccine immunogens, PIKA could activate innate immune signaling and induce a more robust immune response that confers protection against HIV infection. We look forward to working with researchers at Yisheng to develop a more powerful AIDS vaccine.”
“The partnership with TSRI is critical to our long-term vision in advancing vaccine development. We’re thrilled to work alongside TSRI’s world-class faculty and bring Yisheng’s capabilities and focus to bear in creating new medicines into the future. We are very pleased to join forces with TSRI in exploring a more effective vaccine against AIDS, which remains a significant unmet medical need. Our PIKA adjuvant has exhibited broad potential in preclinical and clinical investigations against rabies, HIV, Hepatitis-B, influenza, tuberculosis, and other viruses, which could significantly change the clinical practice paradigms against many human and animal virus infections. We are looking forward to updating the progress on these fronts in due course,” stated Mr. Yi Zhang, the Chairman of Yisheng Biopharma and the project leader of PIKA adjuvant technology.
Mr. Zhang finally commented, “We are grateful to our research collaborators worldwide for their continuous support of PIKA adjuvant technology and vaccine development over the years, including The Pasteur Institute, the US NIH, the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Chinese Center For Disease Control And Prevention (China CDC), China National Institutes For Food and Drug Control, DSO National Laboratories Singapore, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Australia QIMR, Sun Yat-Sen University of China, Aeras Pharmaceutical of the US, and Academy of Military Sciences of China.”
About PIKA Adjuvant Technology
PIKA adjuvant technology is a proprietary technology developed in-house at Yisheng Biopharma. The adjuvant is a double- stranded RNA, which acts as a toll-like receptor-3 (TLR-3) ligand to the activation of the innate immune cells, such as dendritic cells, macrophages and NK cells. PIKA adjuvant is formulated as a component of vaccine candidates.
About The Scripps Research Institute
The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) is one of the world’s largest independent, not-for-profit organizations focusing on research in the biomedical sciences. TSRI is internationally recognized for its contributions to science and health, including its role in laying the foundation for new treatments for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, hemophilia, and other diseases. An institution that evolved from the Scripps Metabolic Clinic founded by philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps in 1924, the institute now employs more than 2,500 people on its campuses in La Jolla, CA, and Jupiter, FL, where its renowned scientists - including two Nobel laureates and 20 members of the National Academy of Science, Engineering or Medicine - work toward their next discoveries. The institute’s graduate program, which awards PhD degrees in biology and chemistry, ranks among the top ten of its kind in the nation. For more information, see www.scripps.edu.
About Yisheng Biopharma Co., Ltd.
Yisheng Biopharma Co., Ltd. is a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Beijing, China, focusing on the research, development, manufacturing and sales and marketing of immunological and vaccine products, with approximately 1,000 employees in China, the USA and Singapore. For more information, see www.yishengbio.com
For information:
Investor Relationships at Yisheng Biopharma
Tel: +86 18637812111
Office of Communications at TSRI
Tel: 858-784-2666
Fax: 858-784-8118
press@scripps.edu
SOURCE Yisheng Biopharma Co., Ltd.
