Soligenix leaps as it gains rights to possible COVID-19 vaccine candidate

US rare disease specialist Soligenix (Nasdaq: SNGX) saw its shares rocket 89% pre-market, after it revealed it has executed an agreement for the exclusive worldwide license of CoVaccine HT, a novel vaccine adjuvant, from BTG Specialty Pharmaceuticals, a division of Boston Scientific Corp (NYSE: BSX), for the fields of SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVID-19 and pandemic flu.

The agreement was executed between Soligenix and Protherics Medicines Development, one of the companies that make up the BTG Specialty Pharmaceutical business, which owns the CoVaccine HT intellectual property. Terms of the deal are not being disclosed.

CoVaccine HT is a novel adjuvant, which has been shown to enhance both cell-mediated and antibody-mediated immunity. Soligenix and its collaborators, including the University of Hawaii at Mānoa and Dr Axel Lehrer, have successfully demonstrated the utility of CoVaccine HT in the development of its heat stable filovirus vaccine program, with vaccine candidates against Ebola and Marburg virus disease.