City of Hope licenses ProBioGen cell line for COVID-19 vaccine candidate

German contract development and manufacturing company ProBioGen has entered a commercial product license agreement with City of Hope, an independent research and treatment center for cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases, granting the rights to use ProBioGen's cell line AGE1.CR.pIX® for manufacturing City of Hope's COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

ProBioGen's innovative vaccine development platform is expected to be ideally suited for the production of large quantities of City of Hope's synthetic MVA-based COVID-19 vaccine. It will enable City of Hope and/or its commercial partners to manufacture the vaccine at scale for late-stage clinical development and eventually, the market to address the urgent needs of the ongoing pandemic.

The vaccine is currently being tested in a Phase I clinical trial, and was manufactured on City of Hope's main campus within its Center for Biomedicine & Genetics, one of its three manufacturing facilities that meet strict GMP (good manufacturing practice) guidelines.