Integral Molecular and Integrated BioTherapeutics Collaborate to Engineer Broadly Protective Ebolavirus Vaccines

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Nov 02, 2021, 09:01 ET

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A collaboration between Integral Molecular and Integrated BioTherapeutics (IBT), two biotechnology companies with deep expertise in virology, has resulted in engineered proteins that may enable next-generation vaccines with broad protection against Ebola and related viruses.

With access to neutralizing Ebola antibodies discovered by IBT, Integral Molecular used Shotgun Mutagenesis—part of its GeneCanvas protein engineering platform—to identify mutations in the Ebola virus envelope glycoprotein that make it more visible to the immune system. Recently issued as a patent by the US Patent and Trademark Office (US 11,135,280 B2), the engineered proteins have the potential to transform vaccine design strategies to deliver efficient protection against Ebola virus and additional related viruses. Ebola virus causes a severe disease with 50% mortality rate, and available vaccines may not protect against other related species of Ebolavirus, because of the differences among their envelope glycoproteins.

"Having battled numerous viral outbreaks and now a global pandemic, the scientific community is more attuned than ever to the urgency of sharing knowledge and resources to fight viral threats and intractable diseases," said M. Javad Aman, Ph.D., President of IBT. "We hope that the confluence of Integral Molecular's protein engineering talent and mechanistic insights from IBT's antibodies will advance a vaccine that eradicates future threats from this deadly virus."

Integral Molecular's GeneCanvas protein engineering platform has been used to successfully optimize hundreds of antibodies, viral proteins, and transgenes for affinity, activity, and specificity.

About Integral Molecular
Integral Molecular (www.integralmolecular.com) is the industry leader in discovering and characterizing therapeutic antibodies against membrane proteins, an important group of drug targets found on the surfaces of cells and viruses. Integral Molecular's technologies have been integrated into the drug discovery pipelines of over 400 biotech and pharmaceutical companies to help discover new therapies for cancer, diabetes, autoimmune disorders, and viral threats such as SARS-CoV-2, Ebola, Zika, and dengue virus.

About Integrated BioTherapeutics
IBT develops vaccines and immunotherapies for bacterial and viral infectious diseases. The Company's lead vaccine product, IBT-V02 is a first-in-class multi-component vaccine against Staphylococcus aureus. Supported by CARB-X and by Novo Holdings' Repair Impact Fund, IBT-V02 is currently undergoing cGMP manufacturing and IND-enabling studies, with initiation of clinical trials anticipated in late 2021. IBT's portfolio also includes novel monoclonal antibody therapeutics for Ebola and Marburg viruses. Learn more about IBT's pipeline at www.integratedbiotherapeutics.com.

Press Contact:
Integral Molecular, Inc.
Soma Banik, PhD, Director of Communications
215-966-6061
[email protected]
www.integralmolecular.com

SOURCE Integral Molecular