Soligenix, Inc., a biopharma company focused on developing products to treat rare diseases, has entered an agreement for the exclusive worldwide license of CoVaccine HT, a novel vaccine adjuvant, from BTG Specialty Pharmaceuticals, a division of Boston Scientific Corp. for SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVID-19 and pandemic flu. Terms were not disclosed.

CoVaccine HT is a novel adjuvant, which has been shown to enhance both cell-mediated and antibody-mediated immunity. Soligenix and its collaborators have successfully demonstrated the utility of CoVaccine HT in the development of its heat stable filovirus vaccine program, with vaccine candidates against Ebola and Marburg virus disease. Given this previous success, CoVaccine HT will potentially be an important component of Soligenix’s vaccine technology platform currently being assessed against coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVID-19.

“BTG has a long track record of technological innovation in the production of antibodies for rescue medicines. We’re pleased that, in the hands of Soligenix, CoVaccine HT could potentially play a role in helping to address the current pandemic,” said Anthony Higham, President of BTG. 

“We are very excited to include CoVaccine HT into our heat stable vaccine platform technology. It has the potential to provide a distinct advantage over other vaccines currently in development,” stated Christopher J. Schaber, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Soligenix. “With the rapid advancement of the vaccine platform, we feel the program is optimally poised to look at other viruses, including coronaviruses.”