[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] Aprogen, which is pursuing a merger with Aprogen MED, announced on the 30th that it has filed a patent for a new technology that significantly enhances the immunogenicity of recombinant protein vaccines, titled ‘Fusion protein, multimers including the same, and vaccine compositions including the multimers.’ This patent is broadly applicable to the development of vaccines for various diseases.
The technology involves ten recombinant protein molecules that act as vaccines spontaneously assembling into a large complex. Aprogen applied its patented COMP fusion protein manufacturing technology to develop the vaccine. The research team used the COMP sequence to enable the protein antigen to form stable and uniform multimers. This allows immune cells in the body to recognize the antigen and increase antibody production. The company explained that this opens the possibility of overcoming the limitations of existing recombinant protein vaccines.
An antigen is a substance that activates immune cells in the body and induces antibody production. The ability of an antigen is called immunogenicity. Vaccines are a type of antigen, and generally, the higher the immunogenicity, the better the vaccine efficacy. Vaccine immunogenicity is greater for larger molecules than smaller ones, and when multiple molecules cluster together like viral surface proteins rather than being scattered individually.
A company official said, "Our research team confirmed that a multimer consisting of ten Omicron spike proteins of the COVID-19 virus is formed using our platform technology."
He added, "In immunogenicity tests conducted on laboratory animals, the multimer vaccine showed significantly superior antibody production ability compared to single antigen proteins without the technology applied." He further explained, "A higher amount of antibody production means increased disease prevention or treatment efficacy by the vaccine."
Recently, pandemics such as COVID-19 and monkeypox have diversified. Demand for vaccines with superior efficacy compared to existing ones is expected to increase. A company official stated, "The patent secures core technology capable of meeting the growing demand," and added, "It is expected to be utilized in the development of vaccines for various viral infectious diseases."
Aprogen is pursuing a merger with Aprogen Medicine to create business synergies, improve financial structure through scale expansion, enhance management efficiency, and strengthen fundraising capabilities. The merger date is set for the 15th of next month.
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