Akers Biosciences, Inc. has entered a licensing agreement with Premas Biotech, under which Akers will in-license a novel coronavirus vaccine candidate under development by Premas using Premas’ genetically engineered S. cerevisiae platform, D-Crypt. The current global crisis has created the potential for an expedited review process from the FDA, which has recently noted its willingness to fast-track human clinical trials for certain coronavirus candidates.

Premas is using its D-Crypt platform to recombinantly express the major structural proteins of the coronavirus. Based on genetically engineered baker’s yeast S. cerevisiae, D-Crypt is highly scalable into commercial production quantities and has been previously used for the production of multiple human and animal health vaccines candidates during its 10-year development track record.

Prabuddha Kundu, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Premas Biotech, said, “The strategic relationship between Premas and Akers should accelerate our development timeline as we leverage the proven D-CryptTm platform and Akers’ 30 years of operational experience navigating the healthcare regulatory environment. We believe our platform has three key advantages which we believe will set our potential vaccine apart in the industry.”

Christopher Schreiber, Executive Chairman of Akers, said, “Akers is a company with a 30-year history in the development and manufacturing of rapid diagnostic tests. After careful evaluation, partnering with Premas to address the global health pandemic of Coronavirus represents an important opportunity to leverage our expertise, leadership, and access to capital as a public company to end this threat. We are also evaluating the utilization of our facility with Premas for the development of this vaccine candidate as we move the product forward.”