ReiThera and Exothera Collaborate on Manufacturing Vaccines for Low and Middle-income Countries

ReiThera, a biotech company focused on genetic vaccines and medicinal products for advanced therapies, and Exothera, a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), announced on April 12, 2022 a collaboration agreement to develop a manufacturing process that allows for the large-scale, low cost production of ReiThera’s novel vaccines.

The collaboration will be funded by a €3 million grant awarded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The companies will focus on delivering vaccines against COVID-19 and HIV, among others, to low and middle-income countries (LMIC) in Africa by developing a new low-cost approach based on ReiThera’s GRAd technology platform. Many low and middle-income countries are struggling to secure access to vaccines and adequate supplies, making aid in immunization efforts increasingly impactful.

“This collaboration with Exothera is an important step in providing ReiThera’s novel vaccines for further study in a range of serious diseases, and in particular for seeking a solution that makes these vaccines more readily available once approved to people in LMIC regions,” said Stefano Colloca, chief technology officer and co-founder of ReiThera, in a press release. “This second Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant, following an initial grant to ReiThera in November 2021 to support the development of the GRAd platform, provides further validation of ReiThera’s innovative technology and underscores our technical expertise in clinical manufacturing and bio-risk management.”

“ReiThera’s innovative GRAd platform technology paired with Exothera’s process development and scaling-up know-how has the potential to make important vaccines available for all,” added José Castillo, Exothera’s chairman, in the release. “Combining our process know-how with Univercells Technologies’ Nevoline will provide Low- and Middle-Income countries with access to much needed solutions for unmet medical needs such as HIV as well as against the current global pandemic.”

Source: Exothera