When Covid-19 hit the globe earlier in the year, no one, not even the scientific researchers and experts, knew much about it. Today, we know it is spread through direct, indirect contact with infected people. Many companies are also developing vaccines, which should be injected into the body. However, Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp (NASDAQ:TNXP) is working on a different option for the prevention of COVID-19.
The company has teamed up with Kansas State University (K-State) through an exclusive research agreement to develop a vaccine, which will trigger immune protection. The team will focus on the spike protein, which is the most serious protein of the coronavirus.
Waithaka Mwangi, the inventor of the technology and the professor of diagnostic pathobiology in the K-State College of Veterinary Medicine, says that it will not be injectable. Instead, it will be sprayed in the patient’s nose. This will then trigger a quick response whereby the virus’s spike protein will be blocked from infecting the host cells.
This Is the Fourth License Agreement for K-State and Corporate Partners on Technologies
The COVID-19 seems to have put the pharmaceutical industry on the spot over its unpreparedness in case of sudden circumstances. Nonetheless, the majority of companies are now seeking collaborations and partnerships in the research and development of ideal vaccines in the hope of being to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.
The agreement with Tonix is not the first for K-State. The university has entered into other license agreements with corporate technologies, and according to Mwangi, this is the way they intend to commercialize the vaccine candidates.
“To deploy our innovations at scale, our faculty need to combine forces with collaborative corporate partners like Tonix Pharmaceuticals as part of our land-grant mission to serve,” the president for Research at K – State, Dr. Peter Dorhout explained.
Tonix’s Strategy to Broaden Its Portfolio of Live Viral Vaccines
Viral vaccines are designed to prevent forward transmission, and according to Mwangi, their primary goal is to develop vaccines, which promote immunity. The company has also added to its portfolio of live viral vaccines TNX-2300, also a live replicating virus vaccine. It is in preclinical development together with TNX-1800 and both designed to elicit T cell immunity.
