Dialogue With Global CEO Exclusive Interview With Vaccitich CEO Of Oxford Vaccine Core Technology Company

Countries around the world are taking strict precautions against the new crown epidemic. This autumn and winter will return. In the face of the global public health crisis, nearly 170 candidate vaccines are running at an unprecedented speed on the track of new crown vaccine research and development.

There are three kinds of vaccine candidates from the United States (who) and the United Kingdom, which are in the stage of joint trial. According to who, there are three kinds of vaccine candidates, which are in the stage of clinical trials.

Azn1222, a vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, a British pharmaceutical giant, was previously considered by WHO chief scientists to be the fastest-growing candidate for new coronavirus vaccine in the world. It is also recognized as the most promising vaccine in the world to fight against the new coronavirus. So far, azn1222 has been obtained from the governments of the United Kingdom, the United States, the European Union, Australia, India and Brazil And the global alliance for vaccines and immunization and other institutions ordered a total of about 3 billion doses per year.

Bill Enright, CEO of vaccitich, which owns the most important intellectual property rights of vaccine research and development, recently received an exclusive interview with 21st century economic report, and made in-depth discussion on the research and development, mechanism of action and related prospects of the new crown vaccine.

According to Enright, Oxford vaccine can not only induce very high levels of CD8 + T cells, but also induce antibody and CD4 + T cells at the same level as other advanced vaccine technologies.

This means that the T cell immune response activated by Oxford vaccine can not only help other cells to enhance antibody production against the virus through CD4 + T cells, but also directly kill and clear the host cells infected with the virus through CD8 + T cells.

As an emerging clinical T-cell immunotherapy company, vaccitich is composed of Professor Sarah Gilbert and Adrian, a scientist and wife from the Jenner Institute of Oxford University Professor Hill, co founded in 2016, is committed to developing products for the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases and cancer. They own 10% of the company's shares, and Oxford scientific innovation company (OSI) holds 46% of the shares. In addition, it also introduces external strategic investors such as Google GV and Sequoia Capital China Fund.

Vaccitich took part in the development of adenovirus vector vaccine with its unique platform technology patent in January this year, and then signed a cooperation agreement with AstraZeneca. In April, the vaccine began human trials. In late July, AstraZeneca released encouraging early clinical data. The vaccine produced a strong immune response and produced antibodies and T cells that could resist the new coronavirus for two months At present, the third phase of human trials are being carried out in the UK, Brazil, South Africa and other countries. Tens of thousands of volunteers have received injections. It is expected that phase III clinical data will be released in the near future. It is expected that the vaccine can be delivered for emergency use from September to October.

According to the royalty agreement, vaccitich will benefit from large royalties resulting from the success of the vaccine, as well as "milestone" payments for important research and development processes such as regulatory approval, but only on the premise that both sides agree to operate on a non-profit basis during the "pandemic" of the new coronavirus, and that vaccine prices will be charged only for production and distribution costs to ensure the epidemic Global supply and fair use of seedlings.

According to the University, no royalties will be charged for the use of vaccitech during the new epidemic. Only when who reduces the global threat level of the epidemic from a "pandemic" will vaccine prices rise.

The British government has already paid 65.5 million pounds to Oxford University and AstraZeneca, and will receive 100 million vaccines by the end of this year. In addition, the British government has also ordered five other promising vaccine candidates, including 30 million doses of mRNA vaccine from Pfizer in the United States, 60 million doses of inactivated vaccine in varneva, 60 million doses of recombinant DNA based vaccines based on recombinant DNA technology of GlaxoSmithKline in the United Kingdom, 60 million doses of Novax vaccine in the United States, and 30 million doses of Janssen vaccine.

Sharma, the business secretary, said: "there will be the greatest opportunity for us to find a viable vaccine candidate for the UK government." The vaccine will first be provided to front-line health and social care workers, ethnic minorities, adults with severe diseases and the elderly.

The UK is also working actively with GAVI, CEPI, who and other countries to help buy vaccines and ensure fair distribution of vaccines to low-income countries.

"No one is safe until everyone is safe," Sharma said. "So global cooperation is essential for us to fight this virus once and for all."

How Oxford vaccine establishes first mover advantage

21st century: now the hope of returning to normal life all over the world is placed on the (new crown) vaccine. Fortunately, including the Oxford vaccine azd1222, which your company owns the core intellectual property rights, six vaccines have entered the phase III clinical trial stage, leading 169 different vaccine development projects around the world. In your opinion, what makes Oxford vaccine the leader in this global vaccine competition?

Bill Enright: an effective vaccine is undoubtedly an important part of the solution. As far as the initial development speed is concerned, the rapid development and deployment of Oxford vaccine against covid-19 is due to Oxford's knowledge of both coronavirus and vaccine platform (i.e. chimpanzee adenovirus vector chadox).

Previously, the University of Oxford and vaccitich have conducted human trials of chadox against mers CoV, another coronavirus with Middle East respiratory syndrome. The results show that chadox can safely induce antibodies and cellular immune responses against coronavirus spike protein within at least one year after vaccination.

The covid-19 vaccine azd1222, which is now exclusively licensed by AstraZeneca, takes advantage of the design and dosage of mers cov vaccine to some extent. The mers cov vaccine remains a separate product for which vaccitich retains its commercial rights.

Our previous expertise in coronavirus vaccines and the excellent vaccine features of the chadox technology platform have promoted azd1222 to become the leading candidate vaccine for covid-19.

21st century: what do you think are the main advantages of Oxford vaccine compared with the nucleic acid vaccine that Moderna and Pfizer are developing based on mRNA (messenger RNA) induced immune response?

Bill Enright: as a technology, chadox is really different from other vaccines. It can not only induce very high levels of CD8 + T cells, but also induce antibody and CD4 + T cells at the same level as other technologies.

Chadox was initially selected and optimized for its ability to induce CD8 + cells, which is why we use it in disease treatment environments known to T cells to improve outcomes, such as HBV (hepatitis B virus), HPV (human papillomavirus) and cancer.

21st century: you just mentioned that vaccitich has already made some other explorations before applying the adenovirus vector of chadox to the new coronal vaccine. Does this mean that once the new coronavirus vaccine is successfully developed, it will promote the adenovirus based vaccine into a broader medical field?

Bill Enright: the chadox platform was developed by the Oxford Jenner Institute. In addition to the non exclusive rights to new diseases such as covid-19, vaccititech has exclusive licenses for the platform in many infectious diseases and all therapeutic cancer indications.

The adenovirus vector originally obtained from chimpanzees has been extensively genetically modified so that it can not replicate in humans and thus become safe, and can accommodate genetic materials associated with pathogens or tumor cells.

After administration, it enters the cell and promotes the expression and presentation of its genetic material to stimulate a strong and extensive immune response to the target, including antibodies, CD4 + T cells and CD8 + T cells. This mechanism can be used for vaccination, such as the covid-19 vaccine, vaccitich's mers coronavirus and zonal rash vaccine, and can also be used in immunotherapy with a modified virus vector, the modified vaccinia Ankara virus.

In addition, vaccitich is developing products for chronic HBV (chronic hepatitis B virus), high-risk HPV (human papillomavirus) infection, non-small cell lung cancer and prostate cancer.

If covid-19 vaccine is successful, it will be timely to develop and distribute adenovirus based vaccines and immunotherapy products on the market. Our goal is to make vaccitich's products a leader in dealing with major diseases.

A new round of financing has been in contact with Chinese investors

21st century: what do you think of cooperation with Chinese counterparts? What are the ongoing cooperation projects of vaccitich in the Chinese market?

Bill Enright: vaccitech is working with cansino, which has led the development of covid-19 vaccine in China and has recently been listed on the science and technology innovation board. We have been working together since 2018 and will use vaccitich's chadox platform to develop a zonal spore rash vaccine.

Our investors also include Sequoia Capital China fund, and we have also contacted Chinese investors in our current fund-raising work.

21st century: the results of the phase I / II clinical trial published in the lancet showed that the Oxford vaccine produced a strong immune response. How is the progress of the third phase clinical trial of the vaccine? Is there any more exciting good news, especially whether the vaccine can cause a relatively long-term antibody and T-cell immune response? And in the prevention of infection and reduce symptoms, which effect is more prominent?

Bill Enright: vaccitich is no longer involved in the clinical development of the covid-19 vaccine, so we can't comment on it. Data on mers vaccines indicate that both antibodies and T cells will last at least one year, but the results of the covid-19 vaccine remain to be proved.

We will be able to know more about the clinical response of the vaccine after the third phase of vid.

Whether permanent immunization can be provided is still unpredictable

21st century: according to a recent study by King's College London, the neutralization antibody reaction of patients with new crown rose to the peak value about five weeks after the onset of symptoms (POS), then decreased rapidly, and basically lost within three months, and did not produce the expected durable immunity. The researchers are more concerned about whether natural immunity can be produced by the infection. From the practice of your company, is it possible to develop a new crown vaccine that can provide permanent immune protection in the future? Or is it more likely that people need to accept the long-term co-existence with the new coronavirus, and that new vaccinations are required every year to prevent infection and reinfection?

Bill Enright: everyone wants to get data from the numerous covid-19 studies and vaccine trials that are going on, and hope that the data will help answer these questions. From our point of view, in addition to antibodies and CD4 + T cells, we hope that high levels of CD8 + T cells induced by azd1222 will promote long-term immunity.

Regular immunization against sars-cov-2 is feasible, just as it is against influenza, but what we have learned so far is not enough to predict that. The emergence of other human pathogenic coronaviruses and outbreaks of other lethal coronaviruses (such as mers COV) remain a global threat. Therefore, we must continue to invest in and improve vaccine platforms that can prevent future global epidemics.

21st century: there are at least 11 different strains of the new coronavirus. According to the research report, the immune response produced by Oxford vaccine seems to be able to fight against different strains of sars-cov-2. Does this mean that azd1222 vaccine is effective against coronavirus mutations or only partially? Does this mean that people need to be vaccinated with different types of vaccines?

Bill Enright: again, we're going to have to look at more data to understand the cross reaction. Several mutations of sars-cov-2 have been described in the medical community, although they seem rare and have not attracted much attention. All vaccine developers, governments and public health organizations need to continue to monitor whether their vaccines have sufficient cross reactivity with any new mutants.

Not for profit during the "pandemic" period of the new crown

21st century: because of this pandemic, vaccine R & D has received unprecedented financial support. In your opinion, will the global vaccine R & D environment be more relaxed and efficient in the future? Your company promised not to seek any royalties during the pandemic. AstraZeneca also promised to sell the vaccine at "cost price" during the pandemic. This is very commendable. But after all, the investment needs a reasonable return. What do you think of the final return on investment of covid-19 vaccine?

Bill Enright: given the public funding and support for candidate vaccines and the sharp rise in valuations of vaccine development companies, the global funding environment for vaccine development is likely to be more favorable for some time after the covid-19 pandemic. People are witnessing the value of vaccines for many diseases. Oxford University and vaccitich's earlier decision to "not for profit during the pandemic" is the right approach in this situation.

In order to reach an exclusive agreement with AstraZeneca, vaccitich granted its patent right to the covid-19 vaccine to Oxford University in exchange for a certain percentage of "milestone" and royalties received by Oxford University after the end of the epidemic.

The long-term development of the market is difficult to predict, but many analysts and industry commentators agree that there will be a commercial market for covid-19 vaccine in the near future. The validation of the chadox platform will be an important value driver for vaccititech and our other products in terms of prevention and treatment. At the same time, we will also be encouraged by our biotechnology counterparts.

?