AlphaVax Technology Overview
The alphavaccine technology is based on AlphaVax’s proprietary (RNA particle) replicon vector platform derived from attenuated strains of the alphavirus, Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) virus. Among alphaviruses, attenuated strains of VEE virus are particularly attractive for the generation of replicon vaccines due to their natural tropism for lymphatic tissues and dendritic cells, relative resistance to interferon, high expression levels, lack of pre-existing anti-vector immunity in most human and animal populations, and efficient production of virus-like replicon particle (VRP) vaccines in cell lines with an accepted regulatory pedigree. In addition, these alphavirus-derived replicon particle vectors are notably resistant to anti-vector immune responses and remain immunogenic in recipients with vector-specific immune responses.
AlphaVax has successfully optimized this RNA particle alphavaccine technology, developed a strategic intellectual property portfolio, and a robust, scalable manufacturing process, and has advanced six alphavaccine candidates into nine discrete human clinical trials.
Key Advantages of the Alphavaccine System
AlphaVax’s proprietary vector design improvements, combined with the inherent properties of the parent virus and the ability to manufacture at scale in a regulatory-compliant environment, provide an RNA particle viral vector system with significant advantages over other platform technologies:
These characteristics make the alphavaccine vector system uniquely suited for cancer immunotherapy. As such, the Company will advance its current trio of cancer immunotherapy vaccine products into three key clinical trials for safety and immunogenicity/efficacy evaluation in patients with CEA-expressing colon and gastrointestinal cancers, Her-2-positive breast cancer, and melanoma.