Half the purchase price is tied to milestone fees expected in the next couple of years.
Mymetics acquired a preventive malaria vaccine from Pevion Biotech. The vaccine has completed Phases I and II trials with only two of four contemplated antigens. A new cycle of Phase I and II trials with all four antigens is scheduled. In addition, a Phase IB trial has been launched in Tanzania to extend the protocol to children and teenagers in a naturally endemic area.
“The clinical trial results proved promising,” according to Sylvain Fleury, Ph.D., Mymetics CSO and director. “Our vaccine philosophy is to focus the immune response on relevant regions of the parasite proteins by designing specific peptides, while irrelevant and immunodistractive parts have been removed. We also believe that the vaccine efficacy will be improved by targeting both parasite forms during the infectious cycle instead of the classical strategy to target only one of the maturation stages.”
“Apart from the impressive clinical trial results,” continues Ernst Lubke, Mymetics CFO and director, “the Pevion vaccine acquisition, from a shareholder perspective, exposes Mymetics to very little risk because half of the paid acquisition price is related to an upcoming milestone payable in 2009 and 2010. This is a deal that makes sense medically, economically, and institutionally.”
