Sanofi Pasteur Links With Immune Design For HSV Vaccine

Sanofi’s vaccine division Sanofi Pasteur announced that it has entered into a collaboration with clinical stage immunotherapy firm Immune Design to develop a vaccine for herpes simplex virus (HSV).

Under the terms of the agreement, Sanofi Pasteur and Immune Design will each contribute lead candidates to the development project. Sanofi Pasteur will contribute its clinical stage replication-defective HSV vaccine candidate, HSV-529, while Immune Design will push forward its preclinical trivalent vaccine candidate, G103. The collaboration will leverage Immune Design’s GLAAS platform to explore the combination of different agents in order to identify the best vaccine for patients.

The GLAAS platform is based on the small molecule GLA (glucopyranosyl lipid adjuvant), which binds to the TLR4 receptor in vivo. GLA activates dendritic cells leading to the production of cytokines and chemokines critical to inducing an immune response. Earlier this year, Immune Design used GLAAS in the Phase 1 trial of its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) drug being developed by AstraZeneca’s global biologics R&D arm, MedImmune.

Sanofi Pasteur and Immune Design will co-develop candidates through Phase 2 clinical trials. Sanofi Pasteur will take the lead in further development of the best vaccine lead as well as its commercialization. The company will also shoulder all costs of preclinical and clinical development while Immune Design will shoulder the costs of supplying a specific GLA formulation from GLAAS throughout the Phase 2 trials. The firm will be eligible to receive future milestone payments and royalties on any products resulting from the collaboration.

Dr. John Shiver, Senior VP for R&D at Sanofi Pasteur, said, “We intend to develop the best in class HSV therapeutic vaccine by pooling assets of Sanofi Pasteur and of Immune Design. Given the challenges of vaccine development, collaborations are important to help ensure that the medical need will eventually be met.”