Singapore, December 8, 2009: Ondek Pty Ltd, an Australian biotechnology company developing a novel vaccine and drug delivery platform, known as the “Helicobacter pylori Platform Technology” (HPPT), founded by Professor Barry Marshall, an Australian who won a Nobel Prize for discovering the bacteria that causes stomach ulcers has launched the first human clinical trial to see if the same bugs can be used to deliver life saving vaccines.

 

Ondek has passed major milestones in its plan to revolutionise the global vaccine industry with a new oral delivery platform. The platform utilises the unique characteristics of a genetically modified Helicobacter pylori bacterium to deliver a diverse range of therapeutics to the patient, including vaccines or other biologicals.

 

Dr Marshall’s latest technology uses a modified version of the “Helicobacter pylori” (H. pylori) bacteria, which can be delivered as a capsule or potentially in a yogurt style food, to coat the stomach cells of humans which enables edible vaccines to be absorbed into the body across the stomach wall.

 

The H. pylori bacteria stimulate the body's immune system to produce antibodies. It is also capable of evading these antibodies and continues to reproduce in the stomach. Dr Marshall plans to use this natural activity as a way of stimulating the human system to produce antibodies to diseases such as swine flu and seasonal influenza which can be attached to the H.pylori bacteria by Ondek scientists.

 

The trial involves healthy volunteers taking natural H. pylori bacteria to see how their immune system responds, thus characterising the safety profile of these sample bacteria.

 

The release from Ondek noted that the Phase I trial at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth will help identify the H. pylori strain best suited for use in an international trial. Ondek will give a carefully chosen strain of the H.pylori stomach bacteria to 36 healthy volunteers aged from 18 to 65.

 

Dr Marshall said, “This innovative approach would soon be used to develop food-like vaccines that activate an immune response in the body to fight diseases like swine flu, malaria, cholera, hepatitis B and even HIV. The technique could potentially be used to deliver insulin for diabetics. I believe one day this technology will be used to fight some of the major diseases that afflict the world.”

 

Ondek planned to revolutionise the multi-billion dollar global vaccine industry by providing an oral delivery mechanism for many of the existing vaccines (all delivered by needles) and new vaccines, that can be produced, stored and distributed much faster and more cheaply, avoiding the need for huge and expensive vaccine stockpiles.