GeoVax Labs, Inc., a biotechnology company developing human vaccines and immunotherapies against infectious diseases and cancer, announced that Beijing- and Philadelphia-based Sino Biological, Inc. will be its exclusive supplier of SARS-Cov-2 (COVID-19) bioreagent research products.
Under the terms of the agreement, Sino Biological will provide key bioreagents such as recombinant proteins, antibodies and detection kits for use in COVID-19 vaccine development underway at GeoVax. Sino Biological will also obtain exclusive rights to research-use-only (RUO) reagents developed jointly by the companies. Financial terms were not disclosed. Sino Biological was the first to market with mammalian cell-made COVID-19 viral recombinant proteins and offers a full range of these and other bioreagents to complement and aid in COVID-19 vaccine development and has the world’s largest selection of coronavirus research-grade products. GeoVax is at the forefront of development for a COVID-19 vaccine and its use of recombinant viruses to generate virus-like particles (VLPs) in vivo has demonstrated considerable immune response for other viruses in a number of human clinical trials.
Commenting on the exclusive partnership, David A. Dodd, GeoVax Chairman & CEO stated, “We are delighted to establish this collaboration with Sino Biological related to our COVID-19 vaccine development program. Sino Biological is recognized as the research reagent industry leader in developing and providing COVID-19 bioreagent research products, as well as a leader throughout the bioreagent research industry. We look forward to further expansion of our relationship with Sino Biological, including our agreement related to research-use-only (RUO) reagents.”
“GeoVax’s unique VLP-generation technology is exciting, and its commitment to the development of a vaccine for COVID-19 is inspiring. We at Sino Biological are honored to be the exclusive provider of COVID-19-related research reagents to assist their vaccine development efforts.”, commented Rob Burgess, Ph.D., Chief Business Officer for Sino Biological.
About GeoVax
GeoVax Labs, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing human vaccines against infectious diseases and cancer using a novel proprietary vaccine platform (GV-MVA-VLPTM). On this platform, MVA, a large virus capable of carrying several vaccine antigens, expresses proteins that assemble into VLP immunogens within the person receiving the vaccine (in vivo). The production of VLPs in the person being vaccinated mimics virus production in a natural infection, stimulating both the humoral and cellular arms of the immune system to recognize, prevent, and control the target infection. The GV-MVA-VLPTM derived vaccines can elicit durable immune responses in the host similar to a live-attenuated virus, while typically providing the safety characteristics of a replication-defective vector.
GeoVax’s current development programs are focused on preventive vaccines against COVID-19, HIV, Zika, hemorrhagic fever viruses (Ebola, Sudan, Marburg, and Lassa), and malaria, as well as therapeutic vaccines against chronic Hepatitis B infections and multiple cancers. The Company has developed preventive HIV vaccine candidate (GOVX-B11) for the clade B subtype of HIV prevalent in the Americas, Western Europe, Japan, and Australia and the clade C subtype prevalent in Africa and India. GOVX-B11 is scheduled for inclusion in an upcoming human clinical trial managed by the HVTN with the support of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). GeoVax’s clade B HIV vaccine is also part of collaborative efforts to develop an immunotherapy as a functional cure for HIV.
About Sino Biological
Sino Biological is an international reagent supplier and service provider. The company specializes in recombinant antigen production and antibody development. The company’s ever-growing portfolio of products includes recombinant proteins, monoclonal antibodies, ELISA assay kits, expression clones, cell culture media, and other molecular biology tools. The company also offers a variety of customized services, mainly focusing on recombinant production of antigens and antibodies. Sino Biological is dedicated to virology and infectious disease research. Its newly launched ProVirTM collection is the world’s largest viral antigen bank, carrying over 800 products from 350 strains of viruses.
