BRIEF—Poolbeg targets viral threat from warming planet

London-listed Irish company Poolbeg Pharma, an infectious disease specialist, has signed an option agreement to license MelioVac, a pre-clinical vaccine candidate for melioidosis.

Incidences of the rare infectious disease are thought to be increasing as global warming makes non-tropical areas more conducive to its spread.

Developed at University College Dublin, the candidate is the product of a novel platform technology which identifies proteins that bacteria use to attach to human cells.

The deal also covers five other potential vaccine candidates discovered at the university.

Poolbeg chief executive Jeremy Skillington said Melioidosis was “a disease which presents a dangerous and underappreciated threat to human health which currently has no approved vaccine and a very high mortality rate.”

He added: “If we can take MelioVac through clinical development to Phase II ready, it has the potential to generate significant returns for investors in the short-term while contributing to the global response to the threat of infectious diseases with an unmet medical need.”