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Lumen Bioscience Announces Preclinical Data Demonstrating Needle Free, Spirulina-produced Vaccination Offering Protection Against Malaria

SEATTLE, Oct. 4, 2022. Lumen Bioscience, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing biologic drugs for highly prevalent diseases, today announced the publication of data demonstrating a needle-free, spirulina-produced recombinant vaccine that protects against malaria. The research, conducted in collaboration with the University of Washington, was published in the peer-reviewed journal, Nature Partner Journals (NPJ) Vaccines.

Lumen Bioscience pioneered genetic engineering methods to highly express bioactive proteins in spirulina. The published research details how this platform was used to express a malaria protein antigen that can be delivered intranasally and later boosted with a simple oral booster. Treated mice demonstrate protection against subsequent malaria challenge. The low cost and scalability of Lumen's production platform, coupled with easy, needle-free administration, could greatly expand real-world access to malaria vaccines.

"We are excited to be working with Lumen on this potentially groundbreaking application of their unique technology platform," said senior author Sean Murphy, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor at the University of Washington and Clinical Investigator at the Seattle Malaria Clinical Trials Center. "Tremendous progress has been made in the field of recombinant malaria vaccines, but real-world access remains challenging due to infrastructure and supply chain limitations and to cost sensitivity in most regions where malaria is endemic. This new approach may help overcome those concerns."

A free, online version of the publication – "Needle-free, spirulina-produced Plasmodium falciparum circumsporozoite vaccination provides sterile protection against pre-erythrocytic malaria in mice" – is available on NPJ Vaccines here. (DOI: 10.1038/s41541-022-00534-5).

"The use of edible spirulina as a malaria vaccine platform offers a new approach to vaccine development at scales, costs, and delivery that could greatly improve access compared with traditional vaccination approaches," said Jim Roberts, M.D., Ph.D., co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Lumen Bioscience.

About Lumen
Lumen Bioscience discovers, develops, and manufactures biologic drug candidates for highly prevalent diseases—many of which currently lack any effective treatments. The company's unique drug development and manufacturing platform offers the potential to transform the biologics industry through increased speed, mass-market scale, and exponentially lower costs than current approaches. Lumen's clinical pipeline includes investigational biologic drugs for C. difficile infection, inflammatory bowel disease, Covid-19, cardiometabolic disease, norovirus, and traveler's diarrhea. For more information, visit: www.lumen.bio. You can also follow Lumen on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and also subscribe to Lumen News Alerts.

SOURCE Lumen Bioscience

Posted: October 2022

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