ANR Supports Project to Improve Efficacy of Influenza Vaccines

Biopharmaceutical company Imaxio has been awarded funding of EUR 600,000 (USD 772,000) by the French National Research Agency (Agence Nationale de la Recherche, ANR) as part of a collaborative project to improve the efficacy of vaccines for seasonal influenza and current pandemics.

The ‘Leverging On t-cell immune resPonse To Improve influenza VACcines (OPTIVAC )’ projects aims to develop a candidate vaccine comprising a recombinant, proprietary and highly immunogenic version of the influenza virus nucleoprotein (NP), which will then be administered in conjunction with current influenza vaccines with the aim of improving their efficacy, particularly in the elderly.
 
The consortium plans to use the funds received to complete preclinical development of the candidate vaccine within the next 24 to 36 months, entering Phase I clinical trials at the start of 2017.
 
The project is led by a consortium from Lyon, France, comprising three specialist immunology institutions: candidate vaccine development specialist Imaxio; the VirPath laboratory at the Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, which specialises in the study of pathogenicity, the mechanisms of emergence of influenza viruses and the development of new therapeutic strategies; and the dedicated Immunity and Cytotoxic Lymphocytes (ICL) team at the International Centre for Infectiology Research (Centre International de Recherche en Infectiologie, CIRI).
  
“The funding granted by the ANR is genuine recognition of what we have accomplished in collaboration with the teams from VirPath and the CIRI. It also reflects the quality of our research,” said Alexandre Le Vert, director of Imaxio. “We are confident in our IMX313 technology. This is an unprecedented opportunity to take our candidate influenza vaccine to the clinical stage over the next three years.”