# Newly developed ImmunoPEC platform technology shows great potential
# Grant worth 700,000 Euros has been awarded to Belyntic
# 'Excellent news, exciting and important project! I look forward to working with Belyntic.'' - Prof. Dr. Leif E. Sander from Charité
Photo by Felix Alder
Belyntic, a Berlin-based
chemistry-for-healthcare company, and developer of the Peptide Easy Clean (PEC)
purification technology has been named a grant recipient by the Federal Agency
for Disruptive Innovation SPRIN-D to use their platform technology for developing a peptide-based antiviral
therapeutic vaccine against progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML),
caused by the JC virus.
The challenge titled
"A Quantum Shift for New Anti-Viral Agents" is a part of the Federal
Republic of Germany's initiatives to prepare for future pandemics and other
deadly viruses.
Under the terms of the
challenge, Belyntic has already secured 700,000 Euros for the first step and
12-month period of the project and aims to qualify for the upcoming stages over
the subsequent two years to secure additional funding for the complete
preclinical evaluation of their vaccine candidate.
SPRIN-D collaborates
with research institutions, universities, and businesses with high innovation
potential. In this particular grant, recipients are some of the most
prestigious research institutions across Europe, including TU
München, National Center for HIV / AIDS research (CNAIDS),
and Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung.
The company focuses on
developing peptide-based vaccines for Covid-19 and progressive multifocal
leukoencephalopathy (PML), caused by the JC virus. The therapeutic PML vaccine
will serve as the lighthouse project with the overall aim of building ImmunoPEC
as a universal peptide vaccine platform technology.
Epitope-based peptide
vaccines contain a precise selection of synthetic vaccine components and offer
several more advantages over other forms of vaccines, such as safety,
cost-effectiveness, and excellent producibility. The application, however, is
hindered by challenges related to epitope identification and selection, the
lack of immunogenicity, and a very short half-life in vivo.
"Belyntic has a
unique advantage here'' says Dr. Oliver Reimann, co-founder of the company,
''we have already developed a groundbreaking peptide manufacturing technology
called Peptide Easy Clean (PEC). It unlocks the potential for a new generation
of self-adjuvant, long antiviral peptide vaccines."
''Naturally, when the corona crisis hit the world, the Belyntic team felt obligated to use PEC's abilities to help in the global fight against the pandemic.''
Since December 2020,
Belyntic has been collaborating with University Hospital Bonn in a bid to
develop a vaccine against Covid-19. It resulted in the development of
ImmunoPEC. Initial preclinical data suggests ImmunoPEC can be a highly
promising platform for generating effective treatment options quickly.
''We named this platform
ImmunoPEC because of its application to epitope-based therapeutics, across
various immunological indications,'' explains Dr. Nadja Berger, Lead scientist
on the project, ''ImmunoPEC enables us to overcome the challenges related to
peptide-based vaccines. First, it helps us generate a great number of
AI-predicted peptide epitopes swiftly to select the best potential vaccine
candidates. Modification with an adjuvant then turns it into a potent
therapeutic with high immunogenicity and stability in-vivo. It's fast and
efficient.''
The addition of NEC
Corporation's proprietary artificial
intelligence (AI) software will add considerable speed to the project. "We
are delighted to contribute to the development of a therapeutic vaccine
against progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) through the
collaboration with Belyntic," comments Akira Kitamura, General Manager of
NEC's AI drug development division.
A scientific roadmap has already been agreed upon between the project lead Belyntic, a team of scientists led by Prof. Dr. Leif E. Sander, a renowned infectiologist from the Charité University Medicine Berlin, and NEC Corporation.
About
Belyntic GmbH:
Belyntic GmbH, founded in 2018, is a Chemistry-for-Healthcare company.
Belyntic offers solutions for the development and production of peptide drugs
based on their patent-pending PEC technology. The company's headquarters are
located at the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM),
Richard-Willstätter-Str. 11, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
For further information, please visit https://belyntic.com or contact Dominik Sarma, co-founder, and
co-managing director at 030 8104-1113 or by email at dominik.sarma@belyntic.com.