VAXIL BIO LTD. (“ Vaxil ” or the “ Company ”) (TSX VENTURE: VXL), an innovative immunotherapy biotech company specializing in cancer and infectious diseases, would like to provide an update on the following: COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate Vaxil has commenced the in vivo (animal) study for our COVID-19 vaccine candidate, under the guidance of Dr. Hagin, Director of the Allergy and Clinical Immunology Unit at the Tel Aviv Medical Center. T
NESS-ZIONA, Israel, July 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vaxil BioTherapeutics LTD. (“Vaxil” or the “Company”) (TSX VENTURE: VXL), an innovative immunotherapy biotech company specializing in cancer and infectious diseases, would like to provide an update on the following:
COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate
Vaxil has commenced the in vivo (animal) study for our COVID-19 vaccine candidate, under the guidance of Dr. Hagin, Director of the Allergy and Clinical Immunology Unit at the Tel Aviv Medical Center. The first animal injection was administered on July 14, 2020. This experiment which will evaluate the immune response to Vaxil’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, will continue for several weeks after which we will evaluate the results and determine next steps.
Over the past few weeks, the Company has been progressing within the framework of the collaboration agreement from April 2020 between the Company and The Medical Research, Infrastructure, and Health Services Fund of the Tel Aviv Medical Center (the “Tel Aviv Medical Center”) to advance the Company’s research program to develop a potential signal peptide vaccine against COVID-19.
“The collaboration with Dr. Hagin’s team is progressing nicely, such that we were able to begin our animal study, having received all necessary approvals. Whilst we were not able to reproduce all data points from our initial work, we have sufficient data to begin our animal study,” said David Goren, Vaxil’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and continued, “Though our studies have been designed to reproduce the T-cell proliferation demonstrated in our earlier work, signal peptides are known to behave differently in the lab than in animals, and also in humans.”
The Company reiterates that it has sufficient funds to complete the collaboration work with the Tel Aviv Medical Center, and that it seeks to raise additional funds to pursue other innovative programs in oncology and infectious diseases.
Private Placement
The Company would like to clarify that the previously announced brokered private placement is for an aggregate of gross proceeds up to $3,000,000 (the “Offering”), subject to the Company’s receipt of minimum gross proceeds of $2,000,000. The Offering is being led by M Partners Inc. as lead agent. The Offering remains in progress and the closing date has been extended and is expected to occur on or about July 30, 2020. Further details of the Offering are included in the Company’s press release from May 26, 2020.
Net proceeds from the Offering will be used by the Company for continued pre-clinical research supporting development of the Company’s pipeline including, oncology and infectious disease immunotherapies, as well as for general corporate purposes.
The closing of the Offering is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, approval by the TSX Venture Exchange of the Offering
Mediation
The Company also advises that it is entering into a mediation with a former officer of the Company in connection with a disagreement regarding compensation.
ABOUT VAXIL
Vaxil is an Israeli immunotherapy biotech company focused on its novel approach to targeting prominent cancer markers and infectious diseases. Its lead product ImMucin™ successfully completed a Phase 1/2 clinical trial in multiple myeloma for which it received orphan drug status from the FDA and EMA. The company aims to continue to develop ImMucin™, a COVID-19 and a tuberculosis vaccine / treatment that has demonstrated promising preliminary results with further preclinical evaluation planned. Additional indications and mAb candidates are under evaluation as immuno-oncology and infectious disease treatments alone and in combination with other treatments.
Vaxil exploits the unique properties of signal peptide domains on crucial proteins to develop targeted therapies against cancer targets and infectious disease pathogens. These signal peptide domains are identified by VaxHit™, Vaxil’s proprietary bioinformatic approach. These signal pepdies induce a robust T- and B-cell response across wide and varied HLA subtypes, while acting as true, universal neoantigens. The peptide platform targets these cells by “educating” or specifically activating the immune system to recognize and attack the affected cells. In addition, Vaxil’s mAb platform directly recognizes the target protein expressed on malignant cells and recruits other elements of the immune system to lyse those cells.
The Company is not making any express or implied claims that it has completed developing or will be successful in developing a COVID-19 (or SARS-CoV-2) vaccine at this time.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Disclaimer: The Company cautions that COVID-19 Vaccine Development is still under early stage research and development and is not making any express or implied claims that it has the ability to eliminate the COVID-19 virus at this time. The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the Company and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. This news release contains forward-looking information, which involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual events to differ materially from current expectation. Important factors - including the availability of funds, the results of financing efforts, the results of exploration activities -- that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company’s expectations are disclosed in the Company’s documents filed from time to time on SEDAR (see www.sedar.com). Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. The company disclaims any intention or obligation, except to the extent required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to sell any of the securities described herein in the United States or elsewhere. These securities have not been, and will not be, registered in the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to U.S. persons unless registered or exempt therefrom.
CONTACT INFORMATION
For further information please visit http://vaxil-bio.com/ or contact:
David Goren, CEO -- info@vaxil-bio.com, +972 (52) 720-6000
