ANNUAL REPORT - Pevion Biotech AG

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
2005 ANNUAL REPORT
“The development of lyophilized virosomes is a very exciting step
forward for Pevion Biotech. It will result in a new generation of virosomes
and open up new attractive opportunities in the field of prophylactic and
therapeutic vaccines.”
Dr. Rinaldo Zurbriggen, CSO Pevion Biotech
Clinical development
Pevion Biotech has highly efficient and flexible development processes that
meet industrial standards. Together with appropriate resources (e.g. access
to a GMP pilot facility for the production of virosome-formulated vaccines
for clinical use), these processes enable an accelerated and productorientated
development through clinical Phase I/II. This was shown when the
company started its first clinical trial only two years after its founding and
completed testing with all endpoints achieved two years later in 2004. The
malaria vaccine candidate entered clinical phase II in 2005.
Identification and selection of new product candidates
Pevion Biotech is dedicated to accelerating the selection and preclinical
development of new vaccine candidates by targeting a range of unmet
medical needs. Resource-intensive and costly antigen identification and
validation are performed by external partners. In 2005 Pevion Biotech
actively developed six product candidates, and it is continuously screening
the market for potential new antigen targets to be combined with its carrier
platform. Promising target antigens in terms of medical need, market
potential, expected clinical development time as well as technical feasibility
will be formulated with Pevion Biotech’s virosomes, and the efficacy of the
resulting product candidates will be evaluated in small animal models.
Life cycle management of virosome technology
Although virosome technology already has an extended application area
(e.g. delivery function), Pevion Biotech sees great potential for an even
broader spectrum for virosomes in pharmaceutical applications. New
indications will challenge virosome technology and Pevion Biotech will
promote the constant improvement of its technology. An example is the
recent groundbreaking innovation, the “lyophilization of virosomes”, which
improves the stability and formulation of pharmaceutically active substances
in virosome technology.
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