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Beskrivning
| Land | Danmark |
|---|---|
| Lista | First North Stockholm |
| Sektor | Hälsovård |
| Industri | Bioteknik |
Hørsholm, Denmark, 8 October 2025 - ExpreS2ion Biotech Holding AB (publ) ("ExpreS2ion" or the "Company"), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing innovative vaccine candidates targeting infectious diseases and cancer, today announces that the international VICI-Disease consortium has selected its lead antigen for the Nipah virus (NiV) vaccine project. The chosen antigen, derived from the Nipah virus G protein and coupled to a virus-like particle (VLP), was recently finalized as the vaccine candidate. This milestone marks the transition from discovery to pre-clinical development, moving the program closer to initiating its first-in-human trial. The urgency of advancing this vaccine is driven by Nipah virus's extremely high case-fatality rate (estimated at 40-75%) and the occurrence of near-annual outbreaks in parts of Asia. These factors underscore the critical need for a scalable and deployable vaccine solution against this deadly pathogen.
Background and Project Funding
The Nipah vaccine program is supported by an EUR 8 million Horizon Europe grant awarded to the VICI-Disease consortium in 2023. This non-dilutive funding fully finances the project through completion of Phase I/IIa clinical trials, enabling ExpreS2ion and its partners to aggressively advance the vaccine candidate. The VICI-Disease consortium comprises world-leading institutions - including AdaptVac, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI), Leipzig University, Radboud University Medical Center (RUMC), and University of Copenhagen (UCPH, project coordinator) - alongside ExpreS2ion. Together, the partners leverage cutting-edge technologies such as ExpreS2ion's Drosophila S2 insect cell expression platform (ExpreS2™) and AdaptVac's capsid virus-like particle (cVLP) vaccine platform to develop a novel Nipah virus vaccine.
Progress to Date
As reported in ExpreS2ion's H1 2025 interim report, significant groundwork was laid in anticipation of this milestone. By mid-2025, the consortium was finalizing lead antigen selection, developing robust analytical methods, and initiating a cGMP-compatible production process for the antigen component. With Nipah virus G protein now selected, the project moves into the manufacturing phase, wherein the Nipah virus G protein will be produced at scale under Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) conditions and coupled to AdaptVac's cVLP carrier. This coupling process will create the finished vaccine candidate, ready for formal preclinical testing and validation.
Max Søgaard, Chief Scientific Officer of ExpreS2ion, commented:
"Selecting the optimal antigen is a crucial step in vaccine development, and we are pleased to have identified the Nipah virus G protein as our lead target. By focusing on this antigen, we can fully leverage our ExpreS2™ platform to produce a highly immunogenic protein at scale, which will be coupled to AdaptVac's VLP technology to create a potent vaccine candidate. Our goal is to deliver a vaccine that is both effective and practical - one that can be quickly manufactured and distributed to help control future Nipah outbreaks. This achievement brings us significantly closer to that objective."
Bent U. Frandsen, Chief Executive Officer of ExpreS2ion, added:
"Finalizing the antigen choice marks a major milestone for the Nipah vaccine project. With the support of the Horizon Europe grant, we are moving swiftly from design into production. This progress brings us closer to first-in-human trials and to delivering a much-needed vaccine against a virus with a very high mortality rate."
Next Steps
With the antigen identified, ExpreS2ion and partners are starting GMP production of the Nipah G protein to support preclinical studies and CTA submission. Preparations for a Phase I/IIa clinical trial are underway as part of the project's goal to achieve clinical proof-of-concept within four years of project start. In the coming months, the team will focus on refining the production process and scaling up manufacturing - key steps toward enabling the first-in-human trial of the Nipah vaccine candidate.
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