Gaithersburg, MD; January 29, 2014 – Noble Life Sciences (Gaithersburg, MD), in collaboration with IBT Bioservices (Gaithersburg, MD), announces a newly optimized cotton rat model for preclinical studies of RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) therapies and vaccines. The companies jointly developed the model of RSV infection in the cotton rat and demonstrated its use to evaluate the efficacy of test compounds in RSV challenge studies.
Cotton rats are the gold standard for preclinical development of drugs and vaccines for RSV. The cotton rat gained importance for RSV studies because the permissiveness of cotton rats to infection with human RSV surpasses that of mice by more than 100-fold and because the model replicates several characteristic features of the human disease. Moreover, the predictive quality of the model is so high that treatments for severe disease advanced to clinical trials based on the results of efficacy and safety studies using cotton rats without the need for testing in primates.
Alain Cappeluti, President of Noble Life Sciences, noted, “The optimization of our RSV cotton rat model is the result of a collaborative effort combining the in vivo model expertise of Noble Life Sciences with the vaccine development and virology expertise of IBT Bioservices. Models of infection with other viral pathogens using the cotton rat will be developed. A model of influenza infection is under development in collaboration with IBT Bioservices”.
“We are pleased with our collaboration with Noble Life Sciences in the optimization of this model. Although current treatment options for prevention of RSV disease in high-risk infants are highly effective, the need for cost-effective vaccines or therapeutic options for RSV prevention and treatment in the large population of normal-risk infants and children is great. The cotton rat model of RSV infection will play a pivotal role in the development of such vaccines and therapeutics,” commented Dr. Javad Aman, President and CSO of IBT Bioservices.
About Noble Life Sciences
Noble Life Sciences provides in vitro and in vivo preclinical drug development services including experimental design and testing, animal and cellular disease models, cell line development and protein production, selection and validation of biomarkers, and vivarium services. With deep expertise in drug development, the company offers access to their top scientists who work collaboratively with researchers to expedite preclinical and clinical therapeutic development. For more information about Noble Life Sciences, visit www.noblelifesci.com.
About IBT Bioservices
IBT Bioservices is a collaborative research organization offering R&D services to identify and develop vaccines and therapeutics for infectious diseases. As experts in the field of infectious diseases and biowarfare countermeasures, IBT Bioservices has worked with large and small clients to screen their anti-infective compounds using in vitro screening assays and in vivo disease models. IBT Bioservices focuses on the core functions of early R&D for vaccines and therapeutics development including: initial in vitro and in vivo screening, animal model development, assay development, and immunogenicity and serology testing. For more information on IBT Bioservices, visit www.ibtbioservices.com
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