Celsion DNA Vaccine Platform Produces Potent Response in Preclinical Study

Vial Of Covid-19 Vaccine

New Jersey-based Celsion Corporation is hoping its experimental vaccine will be able to meet mitigation needs. On Thursday, the company announced results from preclinical in vivo studies of its PLACCINE DNA vaccine platform that showed its experimental therapy produced antibodies and cytotoxic T-cell response specific to the spike antigen of SARS-CoV-2. 

Celsion’s PLACCINE platform is the company’s proprietary plasmid and DNA delivery technology. A single plasmid DNA characterizes the platform with multiple coding regions. According to the company, that plasmid vector is designed to express multiple pathogen antigens and a potent immune modifier. 

PLACCINE is delivered into subjects, mice, in the case of the in vivo study, through a synthetic delivery system. Celsion believed this method has the potential to be modified to transport multiple vaccines. The plasmid vector is an adaptation of the company’s existing TheraPlas technology.

Regarding the in vivo data, Celsion said that the production of antibodies within the mice indicates the vaccine’s ability to protect against SARS-CoV-2 exposure. The resulting cytotoxic T-cell response then demonstrates the vaccine's ability to eradicate the viral cells. Celsion believes that the findings from the in vivo study demonstrate the potential immunogenicity of its PLACCINE DNA vaccine.

Michael H. Tardugno, Celsion’s chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, said the company’s DNA-based vaccine had been developed to “improve the breadth of immune response” by targeting multiple pathogen antigens. The vaccine technology is also aimed at multiple mutations of the same antigen.

Khursheed Anwer, Celsion’s Executive Vice President and Chief Science Officer, stated that the company is pleased with the immunogenicity data from its preclinical program and will continue to share progress from ongoing in vivo studies. The company hopes the data will validate the PLACCINE DNA vaccine platform and ultimately support Investigational New Drug-enabling studies. Celsion is aiming to file an IND application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2022. 

“In an effort to establish a suite of platform technologies, we have produced and characterized a family of DNA vaccine vectors expressing one or more SARS-CoV-2 surface antigens or proteins with or without immune modifiers or agents to improve vaccine quality. In addition, we are developing an intramuscular vaccine based on a specialized synthetic delivery system that yields high levels of viral proteins to generate the desired immune response,” Anwer said in a statement.

Anwer added that the formulation in the preclinical study does not require a separate delivery device, such as electroporation.

 

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