Patent Application Submitted Covering Hepatitis C Vaccine

The new patent filed 6 June aims to strengthen the Company's general protection of its peptide based vaccine technology, including four specific product patents:

• Vacc-Flu is a universal influenza vaccine that researchers believe could produce long lasting immunity, and be effective for all seasonal variations of influenza A.
• Vacc-HCV is a vaccine that may be effective both as a therapy and for prevention of chronic liver infection. Hepatitis C (HCV) may lead to liver failure and liver cancer.
• Vacc-CMV is a vaccine for treating cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, which has been associated with inflammatory diseases as well as aggravating various cancer forms such as brain tumors and prostate cancer.
• Vacc-HPV is a vaccine for treating throat and vaginal cancer caused by Human papillomavirus (HPV).
  

Bionor Pharma ASA (BIONOR.OL) announced today that it has initiated the international patent process for further protection of the Company's peptide vaccine technology platforms, and for the vaccine candidates Vacc-Flu, Vacc-HCV, Vacc-CMV and Vacc-HPV. This new peptide vaccine platform submission complements the two previously filed technology platform patents covering peptide vaccines designed for generation of antibody responses and peptide vaccines designed for generating T-cell responses.

All the vaccine candidates are developed from conserved parts (proteins) of the respective viruses. By applying the platform technology to modify the peptides, the vaccines are shown to have significantly improved immune response properties as compared to the corresponding unmodified (native) peptides.

The new platform patent is also covering protection of the various administration regimes connected to the vaccines. Preclinical research is ongoing for both the influenza and the HCV vaccines.

About Vacc-HCV

Bionor's therapeutic vaccine for hepatitis C, Vacc-HCV aims to treat chronic HCV infection that affects the liver and may lead to scarring and cirrhosis with liver failure or liver cancer in advanced disease.

An estimated 150 million people are living with chronic hepatitis C and between three and four million people become infected per year. Over 350,000 deaths annually are attributed to hepatitis C-related diseases.

Although new drugs are expected to enter the market, these treatments will not be without side effects and treatment failures. This opens the door to even better stand-alone therapy or combination therapies, including a therapeutic vaccine.

Source: Bionor Pharma