$2.2 Million Award Advances Gonorrhea Vaccine Development

Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X) today announced it awarded $2.2 million to LimmaTech Biologics AG to advance the development of its novel vaccine candidate targeted to prevent Neisseria gonorrhea (NG) infections.

The CARB-X award supports the development of LimmaTech's vaccine candidate that incorporates multiple antigens commonly found in NG bacteria. The goal is to develop a cost-effective vaccine that elicits a robust immune response against different NG bacterial strains.

"Gonorrhea is becoming increasingly resistant to treatment, which reinforces the pressing need for a highly effective and safe vaccine that can protect against this serious and pervasive pathogen," said Dr. Franz-Werner Haas, CEO of LimmaTech, in a press release on February 27, 2024.

"We believe our proprietary vaccine technology offers advantages in efficacy, production scalability, and simplicity to include multiple antigens that can effectively address bacterial infectious disease threats."

The WHO Global Health Sector Strategy on Sexually Transmitted Infections has set goals for reducing gonorrhea incidence by vaccination by 90%.

As of February 2024, no gonorrhea vaccine candidate has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or European Medicines Agency.

However, the U.K.'s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation agreed in 2023 that a targeted program should be initiated using the 4CMenB (Bexsero®) vaccine for the prevention of gonorrhea in those who are at most significant risk of infection.

LimmaTech is a Swiss clinical-stage biotech company that has built a robust pipeline of innovative vaccines to provide solutions against increasingly dangerous infections, including Staphylococcus aureus and Shigella.