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For Immediate Release                                                                                                      6 April 2009

Successful Vaccination Against Anthrax Supports

Cobra's Oral Vaccine Delivery Technology

Keele, UK: 6 April, 2009, Cobra Biomanufacturing Plc (AIM: CBF), the international manufacturer of biopharmaceuticals, today announces the results of a research collaboration with the UK Ministry of Defence agency Dstl (Defence Science and Technology Laboratory), Porton Down, UK, on the use of Cobra's oral vaccination platform that allows easy oral administration and cost effective manufacture of a vaccine against anthrax. 

The experiments conducted at Dstl and funded by Ploughshare Innovations Ltd,  demonstrated that the Salmonella-based oral ORT-VAC vaccines containing stable plasmids expressing a vaccine antigen offered significantly greater protection in mice against a lethal strain of anthrax, compared to the alternative approach of placing the vaccine gene on the bacterial chromosome. 

This is because ORT-VAC enables a higher vaccine dose to be delivered. This data published in the journal Microbial Pathogenesis, together with an earlier Dstl-supported study on a Salmonella-based oral ORT-VAC plague vaccine, paves the way for development of an effective vaccine pill.

The abstract is available at: 

ScienceDirect - Microbial Pathogenesis Journal

Commenting on the results, Cobra's CEO Simon Saxby said:

 'The collaboration with Dstl has produced very encouraging results for Cobra's oral delivery technology. Ease of delivery and the cost of manufacturing are still two major concerns that vaccine developers have to overcome and Cobra is addressing these with our oral delivery technology.'

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  For further information, please contact :   

Cobra Biomanufacturing Plc	Tel: +44 (0) 1782 714 181
Simon Saxby, Chief Executive Officer
Buchanan Communications	Tel: +44 (0) 207 466 5000
Tim Anderson/Rebecca Skye Dietrich
College Hill Life Sciences	Tel: ++44 (0) 1260 296 506
Kathryn Robertson
Seymour Pierce (NOMAD & Broker)	Tel: +44 (0) 207 107 8000
Stuart Lane
Defence Science and Technology Laboratory	Tel: +44 (0) 1980 658088
Caroline Dean, Press Officer

Notes to Editors :

About Cobra Biomanufacturing Plc

Cobra Biomanufacturing Plc is a leading international manufacturer of biopharmaceuticals to the lifescience industry. Founded in 1992, Cobra provides innovative manufacturing solutions to the biopharmaceutical industry covering DNA, virus, cellular therapeutics and recombinant protein products. 

    

Cobra has developed a range of unique, patented technologies, which underpin a successful revenue generating contract manufacturing business.

www.cobrabio.com 

About ORT-VAC

The ORT-VAC technology allows easy oral administration and cost effective manufacture of vaccines. It utilises the ORT (Operator-Repressor Titration) technology that Cobra uses to manufacture protein and DNA therapeutics for its biotech and pharmaceutical customers in E. coli. It is readily applicable to convert any suitable bacterial strain to an antibiotic-free strain for DNA and recombinant protein vaccine delivery in humans. Recombinant vaccines are becoming increasingly important as a prophylaxis and as a therapy. ORT-VAC vaccines will have applications in cancer, HIV, malaria and avian influenza, as well as diseases such as bubonic plague and anthrax posed by the threat of bioterrorism. The ultimate goal of the ORT-VAC programme is to avoid the cold storage, complicated logistics and needle-based administration of conventional vaccines by the development of a stable, oral 'vaccine pill'.

About Dstl & Ploughshare Innovations Ltd

The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) is a centre of scientific excellence for the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Its 3,500 strong workforce includes some of the nation's most talented and creative scientists with the brief to ensure that the UK Armed Forces and Government are supported in-house by the very best impartial scientific and technological advice. Dstl's position at the heart of the MoD means that its advice is trusted by Governments, academia, industry and International partners. It offers timely and accurate advice at all levels of military planning and operations, both overseas and on the home front. Ploughshare Innovations Ltd is a company wholly owned by the MoD to commercialise Dstl technologies. For more information please visit www.dstl.gov.uk and www.ploughshareinnovations.com.

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