Sanofi Pasteur, Immune Design Enter HSV Immune Therapy Alliance

Immune Design Corp. has entered into a broad collaboration for the development of a herpes simplex virus (HSV) immune therapy with Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi.
 
Sanofi Pasteur will contribute HSV-529, a clinical-stage replication-defective HSV vaccine candidate to the collaboration, and Immune Design will contribute G103, its preclinical trivalent vaccine candidate. The collaboration will explore the potential of various combinations of agents, including leveraging Immune Design’s GLAAS platform, with the goal of selecting the best potential immune therapy.
 
The companies will jointly develop the products through Phase II trials, at which point Sanofi Pasteur will continue development of the most promising candidate and will be responsible for commercialization. Sanofi Pasteur will be responsible for development costs and Immune Design will provide a specific formulation of GLA from the GLAAS platform through Phase II studies. Immune Design will be eligible to receive future milestone and royalty payments on any product developed from the collaboration. Financial terms were not disclosed.
 
“Instead of being limited to a single approach, the companies are joining forces and combining multiple cutting-edge technologies with the goal to develop the most effective and safe immunotherapy to address HSV infection, a significant unmet medical need,” said Carlos Paya, M.D., Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Immune Design. “With other clinical and preclinical GLAAS-based product candidates in development, both with partners and internally at Immune Design, I believe this new collaboration continues to demonstrate the productivity and broad applicability of this platform.”