Applied research of a novel, cost effective virus like particle rabies vaccine

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Rabies is an acute, lethal disease caused by a virus infection of the central nervous system.The rabies virus is most often spread by a bite and saliva from an infected (rabid) animal e.g.,dogs, bats & raccoons (disease vector). Virtually 100% of those infected with rabies who donot receive post exposure vaccination will die.This application is for a Proof of Concept (PoC) grant to test the use our novel virus- likeparticle (VLP) vaccine technology platform to produce low cost, highly effective yet saferabies vaccines. The application will build on previous research to see if the rabies antigen canbe produced on the surface of immunogenic VLPs at yields orders of magnitude greater thanis possible with currently marketed conventional vaccines. Furthermore, unlike conventionalvaccines produced from live rabies virus grown in cell culture and inactivated, our VLPs,lacking functional rabies genetic material, will carry no risk of infecting production plantworkers or environmental escape and therefore require lower containment facilities.The high cost of rabies post-exposure vaccination puts it beyond the reach of large populationsegments in the world’s worst affected enzootic regions (China, India & Africa) wherec50,000 lives are lost to the disease each year. Affordable vaccines should allow morewidespread vector and post-exposure vaccination in these markets. This would save thousandsof lives and in so doing also expand and take a significant market share of the rabies vaccinemarket. Opportunities also exist in markets such as UK, Europe (mainly travel vaccination)and North America (vector control, post exposure vaccination and travel vaccination.)We believe our technology has the potential to cross over to other important global diseasesand open up the opportunity for export to international markets from UK manufacturers.