Encouraging results for Redbiotec

Congenital CMV infection occurs when a pregnant woman is exposed to CMV and the CMV passes from the pregnant woman to her unborn child. CMV is the most common congenital viral infection in the western industrialized world. More children have disabilities due to congenital CMV than other well-known infections and syndromes, including Down Syndrome, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Spina Bifida, and Pediatric HIV/AIDS. In figures this means: Of yearly 700’000 pregnancies in Germany, 1’500 children are born with congenital CMV, causing 40 deaths and leaving 500 with permanent disabilities.

In patients with weakened immune systems, due to organ transplants, HIV/AIDS infection, chemotherapy, and various medications, CMV can cause serious problems. CMV infections are also linked with rejection or malfunction of the transplant.
The Institute of Medicine has ranked the development of a CMV vaccine as a highest priority because of the lives it would save and the disabilities it would prevent (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, USA).

Redbiotec’s program for the development of a CMV vaccine focuses on two lines of research and development: one of them is a soluble HCMV protein complex. Redbiotec has today announced that it has further validated this complex CMV antigens in two new in vivo (mouse) studies. One performed in house, one by a pharma partner. Redbiotec’s complex CMV antigens showed high neutralizing antibody titers even at low dose, both as standalone product as well as in a formulation combined with another CMV glycoprotein.