Malaysia to design own EV71 vaccine

By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani

September 16, 2010

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 16 – A Malaysian biotech start-up is developing a vaccine to combat the Enterovirus 71 (EV71) virus which causes Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD), a common illness which afflicts infants and children with fever, blister-like eruptions in the mouth, and skin rash.

The BioNexus-status company, Sentinext Therapeutic Sdn Bhd, said the development of the vaccine was important because children who contract HFMD from the EV71 virus face a higher risk of developing severe — and potentially fatal — neurological diseases.

Sentinext Theurapeutics was established by CEO Peter Wulff and chief scientific officer Jane Cardosa in 2009.

Wulff said the development of the new vaccine was an important step in the company’s effort to combat infectious illnesses.

Prof Mary Jane Cardosa

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“Solutions for infectious diseases such as malaria, dengue and HFMD have been woefully inadequate despite the fact that these diseases affect billions of the world’s population — particularly the poor,” Wulf said in a press statement.

In July, Taiwan announced that it has started human clinical trials of its own HFMD vaccine, which should be ready for use by early 2011. Its first clinical trial is scheduled to be launched this month with 30 adults as trial subjects.

China also began its clinical trial earlier this year.

Sentinext, however, is adopting a different approach in developing its vaccines by constructing virus-like particles (VLPs), as opposed to conventional vaccines which use weakened or inactivated viruses.

Wulff said the “look-alike” particles mimic the shape of the real virus, triggering the production of the antibodies to fight the bug.

“Compared to older methods, this avoids introducing the real virus into the body which could cause side effects. However, it’s technically very challenging. Engineering the VLP requires not just good science but out-of-the-box conceptualisation as well as rigorous lab technique. It takes deep knowledge, creativity and thoroughness,” he added.

The Sentinext founder also confirmed that the company will proceed with its pre-clinical animal studies for its vaccine.

“The company has just completed the making of its first EV71 vaccine candidate and initial experiments have shown good immune response to the VLP. To prove safety and efficacy, the vaccine candidate must go to pre-clinical animal studies and, subsequently, human clinical trials,” he said.

This is good that we will developed our own vaccine against the virus.  Right now, researchers from USM (Prof Zainul Fadziruddin Zainuddin, Head Project) are doing the challenge study of EV71 in a mouse model. They are using the recombinant BCG and subunit vaccine which both expressing VP1 of EV71 in enhancing the immune response and antibodies production in mice in stead of VLP. The study is still in progress. From the preliminary results, it showed that immunized mice with both vaccines produced a significant of antibody.The projects were collaborated by the other institutions i.e UM (Prof Wong Kum Thong), UPM (Prof Khatijah Yusoff) and UNIMAS (Prof Mary Jane Cardosa).