South Korea-based International Vaccine Institute (IVI), an international organisation with a mission to discover, develop, and deliver safe, effective, and affordable vaccines for global health, and Grid Biosciences, a biotech company developing vaccines and therapeutics aimed at global access and member organisation of Hong Kong Science Park, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a collaborative partnership to pursue joint vaccine research as well as preclinical and clinical development.

IVI and Grid’s collaboration brings together the expertise and resources of both organisations to address the urgent need for a preventative vaccine against the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). 

EBV is a common virus that infects the majority of the world’s population. It is the primary cause of infectious mononucleosis and is associated with certain cancers and autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis (MS), nasopharyngeal carcinoma in Asia, and lymphomas in Africa. The development of an effective EBV vaccine has the potential to significantly reduce the global incidence of these diseases. 

Grid’s EBV vaccine candidate is based on technology developed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the US Department of Health and Human Services, and is designed to protect against EBV as well as cancers and autoimmune diseases associated with EBV infection. IVI brings to the partnership extensive expertise and experience in the full spectrum of preclinical and clinical development including assay development, in vivo testing, process development, and global clinical trials.

Image caption- IVI Director General Dr Jerome Kim (Left) and Dr Daniel-Joseph Leung, CEO of Grid Biosciences