Melbourne, Wednesday 2 September 2009: Australian pharmaceutical development company BioDiem Ltd (ASX: BDM) announced that further to the provision of its LAIV (Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine) technology to the World Health Organization (WHO) to support the Global Pandemic Influenza Action Plan for developing countries, the WHO has signed sub-licences with the Government Pharmaceutical Office of Thailand and the Serum Institute of India Ltd. The GPO is licensed to manufacture seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccines; the Serum Institute of India’s sublicence is for the manufacture of pandemic influenza vaccines.
Earlier this year, BioDiem and Nobilon/Schering-Plough allowed the Institute of Experimental Medicine in Russia (the originator of BioDiem’s LAIV technology) to provide the WHO with Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine (LAIV) materials. These materials, together with know-how licensed to WHO by Nobilon, can be sub-licenced by WHO to governmental or non-governmental organizations or private companies in developing countries to enable seasonal and pandemic vaccine production in eggs. These organizations must then distribute the vaccine in the public sector of their own countries, and the public sector of certain other developing countries which do not have the required manufacturing capacity, free-of-charge or at low cost.
Chief Executive Officer of BioDiem, Julie Phillips, commented “We are delighted to have contributed to WHO’s Global Pandemic Influenza Action Plan. WHO’s use of the LAIV technology does not interfere with the commercial progress of the technology using cell based manufacturing which is the focus of our partnership with Nobilon/Schering Plough.”
About BioDiem Ltd
BioDiem is an ASX listed company, based in Melbourne, with an international focus on finding, adding value to and commercializing research for vaccines, infectious diseases and other therapeutic areas. The company uses a cost-efficient approach to drug development through collaborations with academic centres of excellence, contract research organizations and partnerships with international pharmaceutical companies.
BioDiem’s leading product is the Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine (LAIV) technology from the Institute of Experimental Medicine in St. Petersburg. LAIV is a novel intranasal vaccine being developed to prevent infection from endemic and pandemic influenza. It was licensed to Nobilon International B.V., Schering-Plough’s human vaccine business unit, in 2004 and is currently in Phase I clinical trials. BioDiem’s second product is BDM-E, a small synthetic peptide being developed for the treatment of retinal eye diseases. It is currently in pre-clinical testing.
About LAIV Technology
Unlike the more traditional influenza vaccinations which are injectible, the LAIV nasal spray influenza vaccine contains live viruses. However, these are attenuated (weakened) and cannot cause illness. The weakened viruses being cold-adapted, they are designed only to cause infection at the cooler temperatures found within the nose, and not in the lungs or other areas where warmer temperatures exist.
For additional information, please visit www.biodiem.com
