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Shionogi & Co Ltd and NEC Corp have announced the execution of a strategic research collaboration agreement for the development of a novel hepatitis B therapeutic vaccine. NEC OncoImmunity, an NEC subsidiary that specializes in artificial intelligence-driven biotechnology, is also participating in this research collaboration.
Hepatitis B is a potentially life-threatening liver disease caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). Chronic infection with HBV results in a high risk of death from cirrhosis and liver cancer. About 300 million people are living with chronic hepatitis B infection worldwide, and hepatitis B resulted in an estimated 820,000 deaths in 20191. Although the widespread use of hepatitis B vaccines in infants has considerably reduced the incidence of new chronic HBV infections under the age of 5, the number of new infections by other routes continues to increase2.
Interferon (IFN) and nucleotide analog therapy are currently used in the treatment of hepatitis B. However, treatment with IFN has a high frequency of side effects, and nucleotide analog therapy has a high recurrence rate if treatment is interrupted, so it is necessary to take drugs for a lifetime3. Therefore, the unmet medical need for safe and highly effective drugs that can finally achieve a complete cure for hepatitis B is high.
Isao Teshirogi, president & CEO, Shionogi said: “Shionogi has been engaged in the research and development of infectious diseases for over 60 years. As a leading infectious disease company, we are taking on the challenge of protecting people from the threat of infectious diseases and realizing total care. One company, and even the entire pharmaceutical industry on its own, can only go so far in dealing with a global pandemic like COVID-19. We will further enhance our contribution to global health by integrating NEC's AI technologies while leveraging our strengths."
Nobuhiro Endo, chairman of the Board, NEC Corporation said: “NEC is committed to our vision of ‘Orchestrating a brighter world,' and we are delighted to collaborate with Shionogi to realize this vision through the development of novel treatments for patients. The innovative AI technologies of the NEC Group have the potential to overcome several challenges in what is usually a long and labor-intensive drug discovery process. Through this new partnership with Shionogi, a recognized leader in the field of infectious disease, we aim to maximize the contribution of our AI to accelerate the pace of drug discovery, and thereby to contribute to society."
Source: NEC Corp
© Japan Today
6 Comments
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virusrex
A very ambitious goal, and very necessary, but not likely to be successful. Still best of luck and I hope they actually develop a way to cure chronic hepatitis B, not only because that would benefit a lot of people directly but because it would become a proof of concept for similar vaccines against other chronic viral infections.
painkiller
Shionogi & Co Ltd and NEC Corp have announced the execution of a strategic research collaboration agreement for the development of a novel hepatitis B therapeutic vaccine.
This is likely to be successful, as great progress has been made in recent years to develop vaccines against other chronic viral infections.
For example, a vaccine has already been developed, which is able to enhance specific CD4+ T cell responses in people with chronic HIV infections, a step towards provoking an immune response to clear the infection.
Way to go Shionogi; keep up the good work.
virusrex
The developers for the candidate vaccine for HIV chronic infection are the first ones that say they are nowhere close to have it already "developed" enhancing CD4 responses is a good step, but it does not cure HIV, it may not even prevent it in the first place.
HepB chronic infection is not even at the step of being understood at the degree of HIV infection, and the virus has adapted to infect humans since prehistory which makes therapeutic vaccines a very difficult enterprise. That does not mean the vaccine development is impossible, but for a company with the record of Shionogi the chances of something reaching a commercial release are terribly poor.
painkiller
Shionogi & Co Ltd and NEC Corp have announced the execution of a strategic research collaboration agreement
It won't be long.
virusrexToday 06:09 am JST
Where do the developers say this?
That is an entirely different issue, and not what is being discussed in the article or my comment, and unrelated.
Scientists believe in the not too distant future, preventative vaccination strategies similar to those used for hepatitis B hold great promise for reducing the burden of HPV-associated cancer.
Shionogi came out with the first Japanese domestic pill to treat COVID-19.
virusrex
In their manuscript, did you just used a reference only by a title without reading the report?
...This suggests that HIV-infected CD4+ T cells should not be a main target for NK cells, and by extrapolation, therapeutic vaccination with VAC-3S should not have a major impact on the HIV reservoir and its clearance after reactivation of the provirus.
When you try to use something as an argument is it extremely important that you at least know it well and understand it, else you run the risk of misrepresenting it as something it is not against the opinion of the actual authors of what you reference.
Good to see you recognized your own comment about the HIV vaccine is unrelated, it does not apply to the technology that Shionogi want to develop nor to the capacity of the company at all. That is the point.
Which is a completely different issue, preventing the infection is routinely done everywhere in the world, what Shionogi says it will do, without giving any specific is something nobody has ever accomplished yet, which is not believed to be achievable in the not too distant future. Much less by a company with Shionogi's record.
Exactly, they did something way behind what other companies have already done, on a local level instead of international, and their product is not even comparable with the best available options, it even failed to meet its primary endpoint for the reduction of symptoms in the latests reports available for their clinical trials.
Lagging behind other companies? yes, doable for Shionogi, leading them and achieving something other have been pursuing for much longer time? not realistically possible.
painkiller
“Shionogi has been engaged in the research and development of infectious diseases for over 60 years. As a leading infectious disease company,
Lots of faith in this company. If any Japanese company can do it, they can.
Lots of promises for their goal appears in various scientific literature (if you read the correct ones).
Scientists believe in the not too distant future, preventative vaccination strategies similar to those used for hepatitis B hold great promise for reducing the burden of HPV-associated cancer.
Also, in more promising news, scientists recently found that augmentation of costimulation could compensate for a low-level of antigen and allow induction of high-avidity CTLs .