Consolidated expertise in vaccine immunogenicity evaluation and safety assessment using serological assays make VisMederi a reliable partner in the development of European and National projects that involve other Research Centers, Universities, SMEs and Big Pharma.
European research projects:
(IntranasalPandemic Influenza Vaccine)
Since 2012, VisMederi has been involved in the “NASPANVAC” Project, which includes eight international partners (Research Centres, Universities and SMEs) with the aim of developing a new nasal vaccine for pandemic strains of influenza. The project has enabled the collection of important results, some of which have already been published in international journals. (For example, a study of Chitosan and c-di-GMPasmucosaladjuvants for intranasal influenza H5N1 vaccine. Svindland SC, Pedersen GK, Pathirana RD, Bredholt G, Nøstbakken JK, Jul-Larsen Å, Guzmán CA, Montomoli E, Lapini G, Piccirella S, Jabbal-Gill I, Hinchcliffe M, CoxRJ. Influenza OtherRespirViruses. 2013 Nov;7(6):1181-93).(Advanced Immunization Technologies)
The objective of ADITEC – which involves scientists from 43 research institutions in 13 different countries – is the development of innovative technologies for immunization to be used for the next generation of human vaccines. ADITEC, the largest project on vaccines financed with 30 million Euros by the EU, involves prestigious European universities and research institutes together with leading U.S. groups in the field of systems and adjuvant biology. Numerous European pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, engaged in the study of innovative technologies for the development of more effective and safer vaccines also participate in the consortium. www.aditecproject.comBiovacsafe is an international project which aims at developing cutting-edge instruments to improve the analysis and monitoring of vaccine safety before and after licensing on the market. The project, has a duration of 5 years and is funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), a public-private partnership between the European Union and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) for a total of over 30 million Euros of public and private investments. www.biovacsafe.eu
National research projects:
Influenza is a top priority in the field of public health for its impact on overall wellness and for the threat of pandemic events. Serologic tests currently in use, used for licensing of vaccine flu shots, are outdated and are becoming obsolete and unsatisfactory. The last update of the guideline of the EMA (European Medicines Agency, the European regulatory body) for the influenza vaccine has stressed the need to introduce innovative tests for the evaluation of vaccines. The micro-neutralization (MN) test, for which live virus is used, and cell-mediated immunity analysis (CMI) are some examples of new tests. The INNOVIRAL project is focused on the development and validation of a new and innovative test to evaluate pandemic and non-pandemic influenza vaccines, quickly and reliably, using pseudo viral particles (PPN) that will be prepared in the laboratory of VisMederi according to the procedures described in the literature. This test has every prerequisite to be a suitable replacement for the virus micro-neutralization test. This new technology, that is, the use of synthetic viral pseudo particles, has considerable advantages:
1) Replacement of the use of live virus in the analyses that can be performed even in low containment laboratories.
2) The test is more versatile, adaptable to different types of viruses and easier to standardize using synthetic particles.
The innovative test developed by VisMederi, is then performed on a very large number of samples, allowing its validation and the determination of its strength and effectiveness, in comparison with classical tests.Project funded from Tender N. 3 RSI PorCreo Fesr 2014-2020.
The project, in which VisMederi Research is a partner, is aimed at developing diagnostic and theranostic targeting based on nanosystems and/or engineered lymphocytes for the early detection and treatment of melanoma, and multiple sclerosis. With its participation in the INSIDE project, VisMederi Research aims at entering the wider market of contract research in the pharmaceutical sector, linked to the development of drugs in a broad sense, broadening the scope beyond the vaccines segment.
