Newark-based iBio, Inc. announced it has received a new patent that could lead to a plant-based vaccine that fights the plague, a disease that could be spread by bioterrorists.
There is no plague vaccine currently approved for use in the U.S. Although plague vaccines have been reported to protect against bubonic plague in animal models, such vaccines were not effective against pneumonic plague, according to a release from iBio. By contrast, data previously published in the scientific journal, Vaccine, demonstrated that a plague vaccine incorporating the iBioModulator protein, and produced via the iBioLaunch platform in green plants, provided full protection of non-human primates against pneumonic plague, the release noted.
“The benefits of the iBioModulator platform are available by separate license to those who license product candidates developed by iBio and also for products developed independently by licensees,” said Robert B. Kay, CEO of iBio. “Our success in broadening patent protection for product applications of the iBioModulator technology should expand interest in its commercial use.”
