What We Do
Vaccine adjuvants enhance and prolong immune responses to antigens, which are key components in vaccines that allow the body to generate specific immune responses that target the pathogen. Adjuvants can help mount longer-lasting immunity, lessen the need for booster shots, and allow the use of smaller doses of antigen.
Work at ViroVax focuses on the discovery and development of vaccine adjuvants.
The Adjuvant Discovery Program is aimed at the early-stage discovery and initial characterization of novel adjuvant candidates for vaccines. Starting with the identification of novel adjuvant candidates via high throughput screening approaches, we first validate that lead compounds stimulate appropriate innate immune responses; we then determine the mechanism of action of select lead compounds, which includes the identification of the receptor(s) the adjuvant candidates work through, and the cellular signaling pathways they activate. Lead adjuvant candidates are optimized through formulation and medicinal chemistry, guided by structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies, and the efficacy and safety of vaccine adjuvants are evaluated in animal models.
The Adjuvant Development Program targets immunological characterization studies and adjuvant optimization, up to and including IND-enabling studies. The main emphasis is on the development of vaccine adjuvants for human licensure as a component of a licensed or investigational vaccine to protect against flaviviruses (e.g., West Nile, Dengue, Zika) and COVID-19.
Alhydroxiquim-II, an aluminum hydroxide-based TLR7/8 agonist, developed at ViroVax, was the adjuvant used in more than 300 million doses of Covaxin™, a COVID-19 vaccine.
