Today the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded Tiba Biotech a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II grant to advance a multi-antigen RNA-based vaccine against the highly pathogenic H7N9 strain of influenza virus. The grant supports ongoing pre-clinical work through to a pre-IND submission, after which the company plans to apply for additional support from institutional sponsors and industry partners.
The Phase II award follows an earlier 2022 Phase I program, which demonstrated immunogenicity of a multi-antigen vaccine based on three self-amplifying RNAs. The vaccine program is in response to the National Institutes of Health’s Notice of Special Interest to accelerate the development of nucleic acid-based vaccines against pandemic influenza threats. Tiba’s work is focused on those highly pathogenic avian influenza strains that continue to threaten native birds, domesticated livestock, and human health across the globe.
As the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated, epidemic preparedness against respiratory viruses is critical to protecting human lives and the health of the global economy. Avian influenza remains a perennial threat worldwide, and safeguards such as rapidly deployed, broadly protective vaccines will be an important part of that preparedness.
— Jasdave “Jas” Chahal, Founder of Tiba Biotech.
Tiba earlier secured a highly competitive grant from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to benchmark the next generation of RNA vaccines against pandemic threats, under its Disease X program. The CEPI grant is outlined in CEPI partners with Tiba Biotech to evaluate next-generation RNA vaccine platform technology to respond to ‘Disease X’.
The team also recently demonstrated immunogenicity of Tiba’s RNA vaccine platform by intranasal administration in collaboration with researchers at the University of Minnesota. See Route of self-amplifying mRNA vaccination modulates the establishment of pulmonary resident memory CD8 and CD4 T cells. For Tiba’s Phase I work on pandemic influenza, see NIH funding to advance Tiba’s pandemic influenza RNA vaccine candidate.
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