Defender Pharmaceuticals Announces Exclusive License Agreement with the U.S. Army for the Development of Products to Treat Tropical Diseases
ST. LOUIS, July 31, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Defender Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (the “Company” or “Defender”), a privately held life sciences company based in St. Louis, today announced that it had entered into an exclusive license agreement with the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Development Activity (USAMMDA), a subordinate laboratory of the U.S. Army. Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC), to develop and commercialize a total of eight products for use against the following tropical diseases: tularemia (rabbit virus); Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis (two formulations); Eastern Equine Encephalitis; Western Equine Encephalitis; Rift Valley Fever; chikungunya and Q Fever.The agreement was entered into on July 25th, 2023 and covers eight investigational vaccines that have been part of the Army’s Special Immunization Program. Under the agreement, USAMMDA will transfer the Investigational New Drug applications for each of the eight products, related data, and biological materials to Defender. Development work on these products will commence once this transfer is complete. Defender plans to work collaboratively with USAMMDA during the term of the agreement, with ongoing support from USAMRDC’s Office of Regulated Activities to advance product development, licensure, and commercialization of the licensed technology.
“Entering into this license agreement with the U.S. Army is a significant step forward for Defender as a company and reinforces the strong and highly collaborative relationship we have established with the U.S. military and other government agencies,” said Barry I. Feinberg, M.D. and President & CEO of Defender Pharmaceuticals. “We are excited to begin work on these important and potentially life-saving products to protect not only our nation’s warfighters but everyone throughout the world exposed to these disease threats.”
*About the Tropical Diseases*
Information about Q Fever can be found at: Q Fever: Epidemiology and Statistics,” U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, available: https://www.cdc.gov/qfever/stats/index.html
Information about Chikungunya Virus can be found at: Chikungunya Virus,” U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, June 2, 2022, available: https://www.cdc.gov/chikungunya/index.html
Information about Rift Valley Fever can be found at: Rift Valley Fever, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Feb. 25, 2020, available: https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/rvf/index.html#:~:text=Rift%20Valley%20fever%20(RVF)%20is,through%20bites%20from%20infected%20mosquitoes
Information about Lassa Fever can be found at: Lassa Fever: Signs and Symptoms,” U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, March 25, 2014, available: https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/lassa/symptoms/index.html
Information about Western Equine Encephalitis Virus can be found at: Western Equine Encephalitis,” Army Public Health Center, Entomological Sciences Division, FACT SHEET 18-045-0317, available:
https://phc.amedd.army.mil/PHC%20Resource%20Library/WesternEquineEncephalitis_FS_18-045-0317.pdf
Information about Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus can be found at: Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus: Statistics and Maps”, Oct. 31, 2022, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, available: https://www.cdc.gov/easternequineencephalitis/statistics-maps/index.html
Information about Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis can be found at: Venezuelan Equine Encephalomyelitis Standard Operating Procedures: 1. Overview of Etiology and Ecology,” U.S. Department of Agriculture, August 2013, available: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/emergency_management/downloads/sop/sop_vee_e-e.pdf
Information about Tularemia can be found at: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) About Tularemia,” U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, available: https://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/tularemia/faq.asp#:~:text=Tularemia%2C%20also%20known%20as%20%E2%80%9Crabbit,all%20U.S.%20states%20except%20Hawaii
*About Defender Pharmaceuticals, Inc.*
Defender Pharmaceuticals, Inc., located in St. Louis, MO, is a privately held life sciences company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing medicines to help safeguard health across civilian and military populations. Our work with the Department of Defense, NASA, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and other institutions advance our mission to improve the health of patients and help make the world a more secure place.
*Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements*
Various statements in this press release, including but not limited to statements regarding Defender’s plans to co-develop products to treat various tropical diseases and pursue FDA approval, are forward-looking statements under securities law. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make regarding our product candidates and the development thereof, such as the Company’s tropical disease co-development program; the therapeutic potential of our tropical disease product candidates; the Company’s regulatory plans and timelines for the tropical disease product candidates, including our planned submission of a New Drug Application for each of these product candidates. The process by which investigational therapies, such as these tropical disease product candidates, could potentially lead to an approved product is long and subject to highly significant risks. Other risk factors relevant to Defender include our reliance on third-party contract research organizations; the reliance of Defender on contract manufacturers to supply its products for research, development and commercialization and the risk of supply interruption from such contract manufacturers; the timing, plans and reviews by regulatory authorities of marketing applications such as NDAs for the tropical disease product candidates; alignment with the FDA on the regulatory pathway to approval for the tropical disease product candidates; market acceptance for approved product; competition; the possible impairment of, inability to obtain, and costs to obtain intellectual property rights; possible safety or efficacy concerns that could emerge as new data are generated during development and following commercialization; and general business, financial, and accounting risks and litigation. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release reflect Defender’s current views with respect to future events as of the date of this press release, and Defender does not undertake and specifically disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
For media inquiries, please contact info@defenderpharma.com. For more information about Defender Pharmaceuticals, please visit www.defenderpharma.com.
Source: Defender Pharmaceuticals, Inc.