Genting Xinyao announces that the new mRNA rabies vaccination project has successfully reached its preclinical milestone

HKEX 1952.
HK, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative drugs to address unmet medical needs in Greater China and other Asian regions, today announced that its newly developed mRNA rabies vaccine program has achieved positive results in preclinical studies including immunogenicity, and has reached its preclinical proof-of-concept milestone
。 The new candidate was developed by the company and partner Providence Therapeutics Holdings Inc.
using a clinically proven mRNA technology platform for the preventive treatment of rabies virus after exposure, highlighting Genting Xinyao's strong independent research and development capabilities
.

"The mRNA rabies vaccine project is the first non-COVID candidate developed through this mRNA technology platform, which fully demonstrates our in-house R&D capabilities and the development prospects
of this technology platform.
Our monovalent candidate PTX-COVID19-B achieved statistically non-inferior
efficacy in safety and efficacy comparisons in a head-to-head clinical study with Pfizer/BioNTech's Comirnaty® disease.
We have further developed a bivalent vaccine candidate against Omicron using the mRNA platform, with clinical trials
scheduled to begin next year.
The company will continue to use this important and advanced technology platform to develop new preventive and therapeutic vaccine products
for infectious diseases and other disease indications.
”

In a head-to-head immunogenicity comparison test with the marketed inactivated rabies vaccines, mice vaccinated with two doses of mRNA rabies vaccine rapidly produced more efficient serum neutralizing antibodies with significantly higher titers than mice immunized with four doses of inactivated rabies vaccine
.
mRNA rabies seedlings also induced a significantly higher T-cell immune response (Th1 bias)
than inactivated rabies vaccines.
The vaccine optimized the immunization schedule and laid the foundation for
its clinical development.

Genting Xinyao and partner Providence have a 50/50 global interest
in the development and commercialization of the novel mRNA rabies vaccine.

About rabies

Rabies is a zoonotic viral disease
.
Although rabies remains a serious public health threat, it can be prevented
with appropriate vaccination.
Globally, more than 29 million people are vaccinated against rabies each year after being bitten by animals^[1].

Vaccination as soon as possible after exposure to rabies virus is effective in preventing symptom flare-ups
.
However, once clinical signs appear, the fatality rate of this disease is almost 100%.

Notably, more than 95% of rabies deaths occur in Asia and Africa, mainly affecting vulnerable populations living in remote rural areas
.
Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) refers to the treatment of a bitten person immediately after exposure to rabies virus, including a course of effective rabies vaccine, as well as immediate wound washing and rabies immunoglobulin ^{injection [2].}

       [1],[2] World Health Organization.
(November 2022).
 Rabies.
 World Health Organization.
Retrieved from