Until a few years ago, vaccine was not a very attractive area for pharma companies. Indeed, pharma companies allocated very little of their research funds to vaccines. Due to little investment, there was no breakthrough discovery.
According to a report on the World Vaccines Market, research firm Research And Markets notes that several drug companies sold their vaccine division to focus on more profitable drugs.
However, vaccines are an effective way to fight diseases and the lack of focus from pharma companies was a major concern for public-health experts, according to Research And Markets.
With the outbreak of several deadly diseases though, pharma companies are now paying more attention to this underserved area.
Research And Markets notes in its report that global vaccine sales more than doubled between 2005 and 2009. This has encouraged pharma companies to take interest in the area.
A very promising area of research in the vaccine space is Ebola. The outbreak of Ebola in Africa has led to several firms rushing to develop a vaccine to prevent the deadly disease. Several of the experimental vaccines have shown promise.
One such vaccine is GeoVax Labs Inc.’s (OTCQB:GOVX) GOVX-E301. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, GeoVax is a biotechnology company focusing on the development of human vaccines using its novel platform technology. Tuesday morning, the company announced that its Ebola vaccine candidate GOVX-E301 provided 100% protection in guinea pigs and Syrian golden hamsters.
GOVX’s vaccine uses a recombinant modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) vector to express non-infectious virus-like particles using genetic sequences from the 2014 Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa. The studies have been partly funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). NIAID is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Harriet L. Robinson, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer at GeoVax, said that through ongoing research, the company has anticipated that its VLPs would elicit a strong immune response.
Robinson further said that the company has already demonstrated the production of Ebola VLPs in human cells.
Robert T. McNally, PhD, GeoVax’s President and CEO, said that the company is committed to developing an Ebola vaccine with a superior safety and efficacy profile as compared to those of other vaccine candidates under development. McNally added that the development of vaccines that broadly protect against multiple filoviruses is a global priority due to the unpredictable and regular outbreaks of Ebola virus infections.
GOVX has had a rough year despite the promising news recently and is trading near its 52-week high. Could it be that, perhaps, this news will be the catalyst for a new upward move in the Company’s share price?
