Avantogen signs license agreement with Hawaii Biotech

Avantogen (ASX:ACU), formerly Australian Cancer Technology, has signed a worldwide, nonexclusive license agreement with Hawaii Biotech to evaluate Avantogen's proprietary adjuvant GPI-0100 with a series of vaccines.

"We are excited about the potential applications of GPI-0100 in the treatment of infectious disease," said Avantogen CEO Dr Leonard Firestone in a statement.

Under the agreement HawaiiBio will develop vaccines for West Nile virus and dengue fever and will pay Avantogen milestones, sublicense fees, and royalties as their products move to market.

Privately held HawaiiBio is engaged in the research and development of human vaccines, based on the production of proprietary antigens (proteins) that produce immune responses equivalent to, or better than, traditional live or inactivated virus approaches. The genetically engineered viral proteins cannot cause disease, which, according to HawaiiBio, is also a safety advantage. Its platform technology is applicable to a wide variety of diseases including West Nile virus, dengue fever, hepatitis C, malaria, and Japanese encephalitis.

GPI-0100 is Avantogen's lead compound for use in the active immunotherapy of cancer and some chronic infectious diseases. A proprietary semi-synthetic saponin derivative, GPI-0100 acts by upregulating the body's immune system and stimulating humoral immunity and cell-mediated immunity with cytotoxic T cell production.

The GPI-0100 product is currently under licence to Pfizer Animal Health and Endocyte as an adjuvant to boost immunity of their vaccine-based products. Avantogen is also seeking further licencees to adopt GPI-011 as their preferred adjuvant as a component of their vaccines.