- Tulane University contracted as Research Organization to conduct its adjuvant Inactivated Polio Vaccine (“IPV“) study
- Study will evaluate the ability of MVMD to promote dose-sparing, and therefore lower costs
Mountain Valley MD Holdings Inc. (the “Company” or “MVMD“) (CSE: MVMD) (FRA: 20MP) is pleased to announce it has contracted Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, as its Contract Research Organization (“CRO“) to conduct its adjuvant Inactivated Polio Vaccine (“IPV“) study, commencing in February, 2021.
As announced in its recent news release on January 20, 2021, the Company filed a POROUS ALUMINUM NANO-STRUCTURED ADJUVANT (“PANA“) patent to support its advanced vaccine dose sparing work and began immediately to undertake the study development and contracting of a qualified CRO. The study will compare existing Alhydrogel adjuvant to the Company’s recently invented stable nano-particulate adjuvant by both intramuscular injection and intradermal injection immunization, evaluating the antibody responses following vaccination with fractional doses of IPV comparing delivery types with IPV alone or adjuvanted.
The study is anticipated to take sixty-days and will be led by Dr. Elizabeth Norton, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Tulane University School of Medicine. Dr. Norton’s research focus is mucosal immunity and immunologic mechanisms of vaccination, with a particular concentration on how infection or vaccination can target specific cell populations involved in antigen transport and processing, enhance Th17 cell development and induce IgA production.
Dr. Norton was supported by the Company’s key scientific advisor, Dr. John Clements in the development and design of the adjuvant IPV study that would effectively determine the exact dose sparing achievement of its patent-pending approach. Dr. Clements is Emeritus Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Tulane University School of Medicine and has over 35 years of experience in vaccine, immunology and infectious diseases research and development, with a distinguished scientific career focused on developing and evaluating vaccines for a wide range of infectious diseases globally.
“Our study will evaluate the ability of MVMD’s new porous aluminum nanostructures to adjuvant injected IPV, promote dose-sparing, and therefore lower costs, and facilitate mucosal and herd immunity when compared to IPV,” stated Dr. John Clements, MVMD scientific advisor and Emeritus Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Tulane University School of Medicine. “Successful completion of these studies and subsequent human clinical studies could further demonstrate the potential of Mountain Valley MD’s porous aluminum nanostructures as an adjuvant in a modified IPV vaccine strategy and thereby take a major step toward achieving the global eradication of polio.”