Toulouse-based company GTP Bioways is teaming up with French biotech LinKinVax to produce a second-generation vaccine against Covid-19. Different from a messenger RNA vaccine, it will target an area less susceptible to mutations to achieve a lasting effect. The first clinical trials are scheduled for 2023.
To manage to live with Covid-19, the World Health Organization (WHO) is pushing for the development of second-generation vaccines which could act longer and better in the face of SARS-Cov 2 mutations. One of these solutions will be produced in Toulouse by GTP Bioways. The young company, created in 2019, has just joined forces with the LinKinVax platform to develop and produce a new anti-Covid-19 vaccine. The first clinical trials are expected next year.
LinKinVax, created in November 2020, is based on the work of the Vaccine Research Institute (VRI), labeled Laboratory of Excellence and created by the French National Agency for AIDS Research to accelerate the development of vaccines against HIV. . “The vocation of LinKinVax is to provide innovative responses in the field of vaccination”, summarizes André-Jacques Auberton-Hervé, President and co-founder of LinKinVax with Pr Yves Lévy, immunologist, director of the VRI and former president of Inserm.
A long-term memory effect, an easy-to-distribute vaccine
For this vaccine, there is no question of messenger RNA. “Our vaccine is protein. A monoclonal antibody targets dendritic cells which are the drones of the immune system. Like teachers, these cells educate the immune system to teach it how to respond. Our technology will bring the information to a receiver so that these teachers save time and efficiency and initiate a long-term memory effect. We are not targeting the Spike protein area but an area less sensitive to virus mutations. Another advantage of the protein vaccine: it is easy to produce and distribute (conservation in a conventional refrigerator or in freeze-dried form)”, specifies André-Jacques Auberton-Hervé, delighted to have been able to agree with a French subcontractor for the production of clinical batches.
GTP Bioways is also working on a nasal vaccine
GTP Bioways has four sites including the head office, a nano unit and a tech unit in Toulouse and a platform near Geneva for the production of antibodies (partnership with the Fareva group). It employs 100 people for a turnover of 20 million euros per year and is already working on the development of a nasal vaccine against Covid-19. “Our job is to develop processes and produce them in a pharmaceutical environment. This is what we are going to do from the innovation brought by LinKinVax. The terminal bottles will be manufactured in Toulouse. It is an honor for us to work on this complex project,” says Alain Sainsot, President of GTP Bioways.