Mountain Valley MD Holdings Inc (CSE:MVMD) (OTCMKTS:MVMDF) (FRA:20MP) has hired the Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans to be its Contract Research Organization (CRO) to carry out its adjuvant inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) study beginning this month.
The move marks another step toward achieving the global eradication of polio, the biotech and life sciences company said in a statement on Tuesday.
READ: Mountain Valley MD inks agreement to begin its coronavirus viral clearance study
The company has developed porous aluminum nanostructures to use as adjuvants in vaccines against various infectious diseases, including polio.
These nanostructures have a high surface area for vaccine-antigen binding, which Mountain Valley believes will provide long-term stability in aqueous media and promote greater stability in harsh environments.
The study will compare existing Alhydrogel adjuvant with the company's recently invented stable nano-particulate adjuvant by both intramuscular injection and intradermal injection immunization.
"Vaccination is key to continued virus control, as polio disease is rapidly re-established after low or disrupted vaccination coverage," said Mike Farber, director of Life Sciences at Mountain Valley MD.
"If we achieve our scientific objective to deliver Inactivated Polio Vaccine with the same effect but using at least 20 times less of the vaccine with our dose sparing adjuvant while creating mucosal immunity, the scourge of polio can finally be eradicated from earth."
Dennis Hancock, president and CEO of Mountain Valley MD, added: "This leading adjuvant work the team is doing in this space is not only critical to achieving MVMD's objective to completely eradicate polio, but it will inform significant dose sparing applications across hundreds of vaccines."
The study is expected to take 60 days and will be led by Dr. Elizabeth Norton, the assistant professor, department of microbiology and immunology at Tulane University School of Medicine.
Shares in Canada added almost 7% to C$1.84 each.
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