Study Published in Science Translational Medicine Shows Exbaq’s Experimental Vaccine Protects Against Many of the Most Dangerous Antibiotic Resistant Superbugs Causing Hospital Acquired Infections

• Vaccine Stimulates the Body’s Macrophages, Engulfing and Killing Gram Positive/Negative Bacteria, and Fungi
• Vaccine provides protection against infections within 24hours and protection lasts for up to 28 days
• Vaccine provides effective protection against “difficult to treat” multidrug resistant microbes

BETHESDA, Md., Oct. 05, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Exbaq LLC (“Exbaq” or the “Company”), a startup biotech company and world-wide exclusive licensee to an experimental vaccine invented by a USC-led team and patented by the university, today announced the published findings. Multiple studies in different laboratories have confirmed the vaccine protected against serious infections within 24 hours and lasts for up to 28 days. In preclinical models, the number of pathogen-eating immune cells in the blood increased dramatically, and survival time of invasive blood and lung infections were dramatically improved. Early data suggest that a second dose may extend the window to prevent infection. The study was published in Science and Translational Medicine.

Efficacy was demonstrated in blood and lung models of infection caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, extended spectrum beta lactamase (ESBL) producing E. coli, carbapenem-resistant strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, as well as the yeast Candida albicans and the mold mucormycosis.

“It’s an early warning system. It’s like Homeland Security putting out a terror alert. ‘Everybody, keep your eyes open. Keep an eye out for suspicious packages’,” said senior author Brad Spellberg, chief medical officer at the USC-affiliated Los Angeles General Medical Center (formerly LAC+USC) “You’re alerting the soldiers and tanks of your immune system. The vaccine activates them. ‘Oh wow, there’s danger here, I better turn into the Hulk.’ I mean, when you have bad superbugs lurking, that’s when you want the Hulk waiting to pounce rather than Dr. Banner, right?”

The USC Stevens Center for Innovation, the technology licensing office for USC, successfully filed one patent for the vaccine and is pursuing others. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, provided grant funding to ExBaq LLC from a multi-million dollar grant, aimed at speeding up solutions to high-priority problems.

Every year, healthcare-acquired infections kill more than 90,000 people in the United States and rack up healthcare costs between $28 billion and $45 billion. On any given day, about 1 in 31 hospital patients have at least one healthcare-associated infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These infections are often caused by highly antibiotic-resistant superbugs, many of which are targeted by this new ExBaq vaccine.

“While the founders of Exbaq have experience talking drugs from preclinical all the way to marketing authorization we may evaluate potential partnership opportunities with companies who have a shared interest in what we believe could provide a safe and effective deterrent from serious infections,” Spellberg said.

“The next step is getting guidance from the FDA on the requirements to complete preclinical studies and submit an Investigational New Drug Application (IND) in 2024. The first such trial would be done in healthy volunteers to find the right dose of vaccine that is safe and triggers the same kind of immune response in people as seen in the mice.”

Exbaq thanks the NIH for the financial support provided by grants from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (R01 AI130060, R42 STTR AI106375, R01 AI139052 and 5P30 AI028697).

Contact:

Michael Floyd
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