GeoVax Vaccine Innovation Is Poised To Save Lives Globally

The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

GeoVax Labs, Inc. GOVX, a biotechnology company developing vaccines and immunotherapies against infectious diseases and cancers, presented at the Benzinga Biotech Small Cap Conference in March, with the company’s Chief Scientific Officer Mark Newman, Ph.D., participating in a panel discussion entitled, Cancer Immunotherapies: Fighting Cancer with the Power of the Immune System. 

GeoVax, which utilizes Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA)-Virus Like Particles (VLP) as a recombinant viral vector to express vaccine antigens of interest in a format suitable for global use continues to develop new and innovative programs. Focused on preventive vaccines against COVID-19, HIV, Zika Virus, hemorrhagic fever viruses (Ebola, Sudan, Marburg, and Lassa), and malaria, as well as therapeutic vaccines against multiple cancers, GeoVax is at the forefront of forward-thinking vaccine science.  

GeoVax’s COVID-19 animal testing results, guiding its path to clinical development, will become available soon. With the many COVID strains currently out, it’s become a race between getting people vaccinated and following the many variants.  

GeoVax is unique in its work in developing vaccines that get ahead of the new variant strains and could be ready to anticipate whatever the next pandemic threatens. The company is now focused on a single-dose COVID vaccine that requires no refrigeration, and after its animal testing results are completed could move into the clinic for testing very soon.  

With the National Institutes of Health (NIH) asking for more vaccine proposals, GeoVax says it's poised to make new submissions. The company has recently signed two additional license agreements with the NIH allowing the use of patent rights and licensed materials in combination with its proprietary technology to develop, manufacture and commercialize a preventive vaccine against COVID-19. 

The second license supports the ongoing research and development of its other infectious disease vaccine and cancer immunotherapy programs, leading to critical decisions related to clinical development. Together, these two licenses support GeoVax’s ongoing developments and progress of its product portfolio. The company adds that its goal is to pick candidates for the next clinical trial by the end of June 2021. 

GeoVax has also designed a preventive HIV vaccine candidate to fight against the subtype of HIV prevalent in the commercial markets of the Americas, western Europe, Japan and Australia. Human clinical trials for this program are managed by the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) with the support of the NIH. GeoVax’s HIV vaccine is also part of two separate collaborative efforts to combine its vaccine with gene therapy and monoclonal antibody treatments approach toward a functional cure for HIV. 

The company’s Zika virus vaccine is ready to proceed into clinical development, having demonstrated excellent preclinical results, including avoiding the risk of antibody-dependent enhancement of infection against Dengue or other flaviviruses. Similarly, GeoVax’s Ebola virus vaccine is ready to proceed into clinical development and has demonstrated 100% protection from a single dose without any adjuvants.

GeoVax’s clinical success has matched its improved financial position, including its ability to enhance its capital structure, secure long-term funding, sign critical licensing agreements, accelerate its preclinical development programs toward clinical development and achieve a Nasdaq listing. The company is also expecting to reach numerous vaccine development milestones over the next 6 to 12 months. 

Photo by Ivan Diaz on Unsplash

The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.