DARPA Awards $12.2M For Research On Infectious Disease Treatment
By C. Rajan, contributing writer
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded a $12.2 million contract to a collaborative partnership between three organizations for the research and development of DNA-based monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to treat infectious diseases.
Under this partnership, Inovio Pharmaceuticals, the University of Pennsylvania, and MedImmune will collaborate on developing DNA-mAb based treatments for three infectious disease areas, including the influenza virus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus. Together, the three organizations examine the DNA mAbs in preclinical studies for these three infections.
The technology to make the DNA mAbs treatment was originally developed at the University of Pennsylvania and licensed out to Inovio, while Astra-Zeneca’s biologics arm, MedImmune, created the first FDA approved DNA mAbs treatment to prevent infection, thus making these three organizations ideally suited for this collaboration.The collaborative project will use a new platform to make treatments based on a patient's DNA that will protect people against infections.
Dr. J. Joseph Kim, Inovio's President and CEO, said, "Monoclonal antibody technology has already achieved multiple market-proven product successes, and we believe DNA-based mAb technology could significantly extend the medical benefits and efficiency of this concept. In previous preclinical studies our DNA-based mAbs demonstrated robust virus neutralization and protected treated animals challenged with a lethal virus. We look forward to working with our globally recognized collaborators to advance this potentially paradigm shifting technology."
DNA-based mAbs are being developed for treating a variety of diseases. To prepare the treatment, the DNA for a monoclonal antibody is encoded in a DNA plasmid, produced using fermentation techniques. Through an electroporation process, these modified plasmids are injected into cells, which then begin producing the encoded mAbs.
In this collaboration, the researchers will first prepare DNA plasmids containing optimized DNA sequences encoded to generate disease-specific mAbs, and then evaluate whether these plasmids produce enough antibodies to protect the body from pathogens. The team will construct and evaluate multiple DNA mAbs in treating the three infections.
Successful completion of the initial preclinical activities will lead to an increase in the DARPA grant for clinical studies on selected product candidates.
DARPA is a part of the U.S. Department of Defense, and is involved in creating and supporting new technologies that are important for national security. Last month, DARPA also awarded The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) a total of $7.9 million to build an ‘artificial immune system’ consisting of various molecules to detect or neutralize biological and chemical threats.