Transcript Slide 1

The Front-End of Vaccine Manufacturing:
Getting Good Candidates from the Get-Go
William Warren, Donald Drake, Janice Moser,
Haifeng Song, Eric Mishkin
VaxDesign Corporation
Orlando, FL 32826
www.vaxdesign.com
Eric Eisenstadt, Hervé Tettelin, Scott Peterson
The Institute For Genomic Research
Rockville, MD 20850
www.tigr.org
VaxDesign’s work was funded by DARPA/DSO in the
Rapid Vaccine Assessment Program
TIGR’s work was funded by NIH/NIAID & Novartis
Manufacturing Facilities Begin During Clinical Trials
• High risk
• Large investment
• Ill-afford lost opportunity costs
http://www.vaccinealliance.org/site_repository/resources/21VacMarket.pdf
Conventional Vaccine Development
DNA recombinant technology
5 – 15 years
Costs and Time Associated with Today’s
Vaccine Product Lifetime Cycle
Challenges:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Can we obtain possible vaccine candidates faster?
Can we reduce the time to get vaccines to the marketplace?
Can we reduce the associated costs?
Can we make a more predictive and representative readout?
Can we have greater success in clinical trials?
Reverse Vaccinology: Applying Genomics, Immunology
& Engineering To Rapidly Assess Vaccine Candidates
High Throughput Gene
Expression
~ 6 months - 1 year
Genomics, Tissue Engineering, & Automation
Provide a New Approach
• Genomics analysis of DNA sequence information identifies
vaccine candidates that can be used alone or in
combination
• Tissue engineering provides direct access to predictive
human immune response without using people
• High throughput automation for repeatable, reproducible
and rapid processes
The Systems Vaccinology Pipeline
Steps 1 & 2: Produce the genome sequence,
read it, and predict the vaccine candidates
(reverse vaccinology)
In silico comparisons
and antigen predictions
Whole genome
sequence
TIGR: rapid sequencing technologies that have allowed us to clone thousands of
open reading frames derived from the genomes of a variety of infectious agents,
including influenza virus
Proof of Principle for Reverse Vaccinology via
TIGR/Chiron Partnership
Serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis - MenB
No vaccine candidate in 40 years of classical vaccinology
Genome sequence
7 novel candidates
Antigenic, Accessible, Highly Conserved
Specific and Bactericidal
Tettelin et al. (2000) Science 287, 1809-1815
Pizza et al. (2000) Science 287, 1816-1820
Group B Streptococcus - GBS
One genome sequenced - No candidate providing broad protection
Tettelin et al. (2002) PNAS 99, 12391-12396
Analysis of 8 genomes
Highly diverse species
Cocktail of 4 candidates confer broad protection
Tettelin et al. (2005) PNAS 102, 13950-13955
Maione et al. (2005) Science 309, 148-150
The Systems Vaccinology Pipeline
Step 3: Making the Vaccine Antigens via
High Throughput Expression
• Directly from the pathogen genome via high-throughput
technology that clones and translates the gene
• Indirectly by synthesizing the gene de novo and then translate it
The Gateway Cloning Platform
Men B Vaccine: Genomic Approach
Bottleneck and relevance?
http://www.meningitis.org/uploads/C05_2_15_Rappuoli.pdf
The Systems Vaccinology Pipeline
Clinical trial in a test tube: high
throughput in vitro assay system
Step 4: High-throughput testing of proteins
as possible human vaccine candidates
• ex vivo models of human immunity that are
functionally equivalent to the human immune system
• Meld immunology with engineering to find elegant,
practical solutions to complex biological problems
Artificial Immune System Cell Interactions
Vaccination Site
Collagen Module
Lymphoid Tissue
Equivalent Module
How To Create a Functional Ex Vivo AIS
Vaccination Site (VS)
Lymphoid Tissue Equivalent (LTE)
DC crossing
endothelium
Microbes and Infection (2003) 5: 205-212
Example: Representative Ex-Vivo Immunogenicity
Testing
Donor had a high anti-tetanus toxoid titer; yet, the
industry standard PBMC assay failed to show protection
The artificial immune system construct supports the induction of
naïve and recall human B cell responses
Predictive ex vivo Clinical Research For Influenza
Representative high-throughput ex vivo clinical research model
that can assess initiation through neutralization immune
responses of influenza/pandemic vaccine candidates
HA-FITC
VS
LTE
(DCs)
(T/B)
Humoral
Neutralizing
Ab
Cellular
Rapid, predictive influenza/pandemic strain selection
 Test immunity to circulating strains
• Vaccine selection
• Strains in which there are deficiencies or inappropriate
responses
The Systems Vaccinology Pipeline
Develop vaccines or fully human
therapeutic mAbs
When Thinking of Vaccine Manufacturing ….
• Companion diagnostics to better design clinical
trials
– e.g., Herceptin: only donors with Her2 receptors respond
– HBV works on 80-90% of population
• Couple in vitro culture techniques with rapid
sequencing and expression technologies to create
an automatable, high-throughput system for
assessing clinical viral isolates to elicit specific
immunity in the population at large
When Thinking of Vaccine Manufacturing ….
• In-line immunogenicity with new
manufacturing processes
– e.g., Eprex® EPO induced immunity to EPO in
some patients, which caused severe anemia
– e.g., Biogenerics
– e.g., New formulations
• Generate wholly human mAbs
– Use the AIS as an Ab biofactory
Need for New Predictive & Representative Vaccine
Candidates Earlier in the Vaccine Development Pipeline
• $51B spent for drug and
vaccine discovery and
development in 1995
– Increases by 7% each year
• $1B in R&D cost for each new
drug and vaccine approved,
including failures
– Predicted to reach $2B by
2010
• Manufacturing is an intimate
part of these costs
• Reverse Vaccinology may
reduce costs to bring drugs to
the market
Reverse
vaccinology
http://www.bio-itworld.com/issues/2006/sept/2-billion-pill