Cobra Biologics, an international clinical and commercial manufacturer of biologics and pharmaceuticals, and Vaccibody, a biotechnology company developing the next generation of vaccines against cancer and chronic infections, have signed an agreement to manufacture Vaccibody’s lead DNA vaccine candidate against HPV-induced malignancies, such as precancerous lesions found in cervical cancer.

Cobra Biologics will apply its cost-effective platform process to deliver a program of host strain generation, GMP cell banking, plasmid DNA production and clinical trials supply.

Vaccibody’s technology exploits the interplay between tissue, antigen presenting cells (APC), T-cells and B-cells to develop targeted vaccines designed to induce stronger and longer lasting immune responses than traditional vaccines. The platform technology allows for the tailored development of not only enhanced prophylactic vaccines but also therapeutic vaccines against chronic infections and cancers.

“Cobra has been manufacturing plasmid therapeutics and DNA vaccines for more than 14 years and I am delighted that we are able to announce the partnership with Vaccibody,” said Peter Coleman, CEO of Cobra Biologics. “Our DNA platform process is based on Cobra’s pioneering heritage in gene therapy manufacturing and technology development that we have successfully used for over 30 customers.”

Ole Henrik Brekke, CEO of Vaccibody, said, “With the significantly effective preclinical results VB 10.16 has shown, we are delighted now to take the next step towards clinical trials with Cobra Biologics as our manufacturing partner.”