Oxford meningococcus vaccine licensed to major vaccine company

06 November 2008

Isis Innovation, the University of Oxford’s technology transfer company announced today that it has licensed patents based on the work of Oxford’s Prof Richard Moxon’s research group and research by Canada’s National Research Council Institute for Biological Science to Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics. The patents cover a novel vaccine candidate against the meningococcus bacterium -- Neisseria meningitidis -- currently in preclinical stage.

Currently, no vaccine is available to combat Nesseiria meningitidis serogroup B strains of the disease, however the new vaccine is designed to combat this B strain as well as all other meningococcal strains.

Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics has received a worldwide exclusive licence to the Isis-owned patent on the vaccine – which targets lipopolyaccharide  (LPS) a macromolecule present in large amounts on the surface of meningococci during disease. Preclinical proof of concept studies have illustrated that the LPS molecules are ‘recognised’ by the immune system and have potential as vaccine candidates.

The company has also received exclusive access to meningococcal applications of two further patents based on work of Drs Jim Richards and Andrew Cox from the NRC-IBS, the outcome of the collaboration between Oxford and NRC-IBS on the vaccine. These patents have been licensed to Isis, and sub-licensed to Novartis.

Moxon, who is Professor of Paediatrics at Oxford said: “There are many thousands of cases of meningococcal disease each year resulting in thousands of deaths. Untreated, meningococcal sepsis and meningitis are usually fatal.

“The meningococcus bacteria is very common – on average, about 10 per cent of people are likely to be carriers. Fortunately, only a very small fraction of those carrying this bacterium go on to develop disease, but when this does happen, it is life threatening.

“This LPS-based approach also has the potential to be a platform technology, spawning a whole new generation of vaccines, able to combat Gram-negative bacteria at a time when antibiotic resistance and other factors are on the rise, making the requirements for new approaches to combat infectious diseases more important than ever.”

About Isis Innovation Ltd

Isis Innovation is the University of Oxford’s technology transfer company. In the last financial year Isis concluded 74 licensing and option deals, arranged 102 consulting deals, providing access to Oxford experts, and filed 68 new patent applications. Isis also formed 4 new spin-out companies based on University inventions, bringing the total number of Oxford spin-outs to 67. Isis Enterprise, a division of Isis, also offers consulting expertise and advice in technology transfer and open innovation.  www.isis-innovation.com

For more information:
Renate Krelle
Isis Innovation Ltd
T: +44 (0) 1865 280850
E: renate.krelle@isis.ox.ac.uk