Company
Portfolio Data
Back to Company SearchZenVax LLC
Address
5100 Covington CTColumbia, MO, 65203-1404
USA
UEI: UKCNQYPNXVN5
Number of Employees: 3
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: Yes
SBIR/STTR Involvement
Year of first award: 2019
2
Phase I Awards
0
Phase II Awards
N/A
Conversion Rate
$531,918
Phase I Dollars
$0
Phase II Dollars
$531,918
Total Awarded
Awards
Use a humanized monoclonal antibody as an emergency prophylactic and therapeutictreatment against human Q fever
Amount: $301,674 Topic: NIAID
Abstract Q fever is a worldwide zoonotic disease that is caused by the obligate intracellular Gram-negative bacterium, Coxiella burnetii. The highly infectious nature of C. burnetii and its unique resistance to heat, ultraviolet light, and other environmental factors make this organism an important zoonotic pathogen, and it can be potentially useful in bioterrorism and biological warfare. Human Q fever can develop into a severe chronic, potentially fatal disease, and there is no FDA-approved vaccine available for the prevention of human Q fever in the US. Additionally, it is difficult to treat chronic Q fever patients with various antibiotic regimens. Therefore, ZenVax LLC intends to develop safe and effective prophylactic and therapeutic treatments for the prevention and treatment of human Q fever. ZenVax is a startup biotech company, focused on the development of novel vaccines and immunotherapeutics for the prevention of infectious diseases caused by microbial pathogens. This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project aims to prove the concept that monoclonal antibody (mAb) can be utilized as a prophylactic and therapeutic strategy against an intracellular bacterial pathogen. Despite C. burnetii being an obligate intracellular bacterial pathogen, ZenVax’s recent work demonstrated that passive transfer of a C. burnetiid virulent Nine Mile phase I lipopolysaccharide targeted mouse mAb 1E4 provided significant protection against C. burnetii aerosol infection in SCID mice, and a humanized variable fragment of 1E4 was able to inhibit C. burnetii infection in mice as well as in human macrophages. These results demonstrate the possibility of using humanized 1E4 (h1E4) as a rapid, effective emergency treatment for the control of human Q fever. Thus, the overall objective of this STTR Phase I project is to prove the feasibility of using h1E4 as an effective prophylactic and therapeutic treatment against human Q fever. To achieve this objective, we propose two specific aims to test the central hypothesis that passive administration of h1E4 will provide immediate protection against C. burnetii infection. Aim 1 will validate the prophylactic efficacy of h1E4 against C. burnetii infection with acute and chronic Q fever isolates in mice. Aim 2 will evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of h1E4 against C. burnetii infection with acute and chronic Q fever isolates. This project is significant because it will establish the “proof of principle” not only for the prevention and treatment of human Q fever, but also for a broad platform/approach against other intracellular bacterial pathogens in general. Upon completion of the Phase I project, we expect to demonstrate that h1E4 will be an effective emergency prophylactic and therapeutic treatment for control of human Q fever, and next, h1E4 will be manufactured under GMP/GLP conditions for further safety and efficacy testing in the Phase II project.
Tagged as:
STTR
Phase I
2025
HHS
NIH
Use of mimotope vaccine technology to develop vaccines against bacterial pathogens
Amount: $230,244 Topic: NIAID
ABSTRACT This Small Business Technology TransferSTTRPhase I proposal is in response toNIH NIAID Research Topics in Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases and Bacteriology and Mycology BranchVaccine for prevention of human Q feverQ fever is a worldwide zoonotic disease that is caused by the obligate intracellular Gram negative bacteriumCoxiella burnetiiThe highly infectious nature of Cburnetii and its unique resistance to heatultraviolet lightand other environmental factors make this organism an important zoonotic pathogenand potentially useful in bioterrorism and biological warfareHuman Q fever can develop into a severe chronicpotentially fatal diseaseand there is no vaccine commercially available for prevention of human Q fever in the USThereforeZenVax LLC intends to develop a safe and effective licensed vaccine against Q feverZenVax is a new startup biotech companyfocused on the development of safeeffectiveand novel vaccines against microbial pathogensThe long term goal of this STTR project is to develop a safe and effective licensed vaccine against Q feverZenVax will also use the development of a Q fever mimotope vaccine as the model system to demonstrate the concept that mimotope vaccine technology can be utilized as a broad platform against other bacterial pathogensOur premise is that a peptide mimic of a Cburnetii phase I lipopolysaccharidesPI LPSprotective epitopem Econjugated to keyhole limpet haemocyaninm EKLHconferred significant protection against Cburnetii infectionThe overall objective of this STTR Phase I application is to defineoptimize and validate a multivalent mimotope vaccine against Q feverThis project is significantbecause it will establish theproof of principlenot only for Q fever vaccine but also for a broad vaccine platform approach against other microbial pathogens in generalUpon completion of the Phase I projectwe expect to define a multivalent mimotope vaccine that will be optimized and manufactured as a vaccine under GMP GLP conditions for further safety and immunogenicity testing in the Phase II project Project NarrativeThis STTR project aims to use the development of a Q fever mimotope vaccine as the model system to prove the concept that the mimotope vaccine technology can be utilized as a broad platform against other microbial pathogens
Tagged as:
STTR
Phase I
2019
HHS
NIH