Poolbeg Pharma PLC (AIM:POLB, OTCQB:POLBF) has highlighted how climate change, marked by increasing global temperatures, is intensifying the effects on human health and the spread of infectious diseases, and how it is developing medicines that will help address the existing and potential future threats.
In a blog post, the company said: "As climate change accelerates, the risk of new and emerging diseases may intensify. The changing environment can create novel ecological niches that favour the survival and transmission of pathogens."
Factors such as rising temperatures will boost vectors like mosquitoes, spreading diseases like malaria, while disrupted habitats heighten zoonotic disease risks, like ebola, the article noted.
Poolbeg Pharma, which focuses on treatments for influenza and melioidosis, is developing an oral vaccine to tackle infectious disease challenges intensified by global warming.
In influenza, the company is working on POLB 001, a medicine that targets the body's overactive immune response to influenza, ideal for both seasonal and pandemic outbreaks.
Poolbeg is also developing an oral vaccine platform, EncOVac, that provides mucosal immunity, which can counteract infections at their point of entry. This also tackles vaccine hesitancy related to needle-phobia.
It is also advancing POLB 003, a vaccine candidate for melioidosis, a disease whose spread is exacerbated by climate change.