Current Development Program

Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 (HSV-2)

HSV-2 is the major causative agent of genital herpes. This disease does not just cause discomfort to infected individuals but can have serious health implications for babies born to infected women and is believed to aid the transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Current HSV treatment involves the use of antiviral drugs which can reduce, but not eliminate, outbreaks and shedding and therefore does not prevent spread of the disease. Coridon is currently in the pre-clinical phase of evaluating a combined prophylactic and therapeutic HSV-2 vaccine with a view to commencing a clinical studies in 2012.

Epstein Barr Virus (EBV)

EBV is the causative agent of infectious mononucleosis (IM; glandular fever) in young adults and has been linked with Burkitt’s lymphoma, nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), Hodgkin’s disease, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and lymphoproliferative diseases in the immunosupressed. Coridon is undertaking research and development of a prophylactic/therapeutic vaccine for EBV: prophylactic for IM and post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease and therapeutic for recurrent infection as a cause of NPC (in Asia) and lymphoma (in Africa).

Coridon’s optimisation technology could potentially be applied to the development of DNA vaccines for a range of infectious diseases and cancers.  Furthermore, as the technology should stimulate not only a strong antibody response but also a robust cellular immune response, it is particularly suited to the development of therapeutic vaccines. Another potential target that Coridon may pursue in 2011 is a therapeutic vaccine for cervical cancer.