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Simplexia

Our ambition is to be the first effective vaccine on the market and hence the first curative treatment available for genital herpes.

In 2019, the estimated global number of virus infected people suffering genital herpes is 550 million.

Based on WHO (Looker et.al. 2012)

Simplexia is developing a new modality of genital herpes vaccines. Our ambition is to launch the first vaccine on the market for treatment and prevention of genital herpes.

Background

Based on the need for an effective treatment of Genital Herpes, a devastating disease with a number of feared complications, Simplexia AB was founded in 2017. More than 500 million people, globally, are affected by this disease

Simplexia is based on the research of Ass. Prof. Jan-Åke Liljeqvist and the department of Virology at the Sahlgrenska Academy in Gothenburg, Sweden. The unique research on the type specific envelop protein gG-2, of the HSV-2 virus causing Genital Herpes, was commenced in 1995. The research group has developed a vaccine candidate being patented by Simplexia

Simplexia has built up an ambitious and knowledgeable team with decades of experience of pharmaceutical development.

The goal and driving force for the team at Simplexia is to curtail and treat infection with Herpes simplex virus (HSV), one of the world’s most prevalent sexually transmitted diseases.

An estimated half a billion people have a genital infection with HSV type 2 or type 1, and several billion had an oral HSV type 1 infection, according to the Bulletin of the World Health Organization in 2016. The infection is lifelong and is characterised by period reactivations, causing painful genital blisters, sometimes with meningitis, and in the case of HSV-2 in new-borns and immunocompromised patients, life-threatening encephalitis. After initial infection, the virus establishes a latent infection in peripheral nerves, from which it may periodically reactivate due to stress, immunosuppression, sunlight exposure or fever. There is no cure for herpes infection, with most being treated for symptoms with antiviral drugs that were discovered in the 1970. The lack of effective and modern treatment options makes herpes infection a clear target for vaccine development.

Research in the laboratories of the founders of Simplexia and elsewhere a has shown that glycoproteins from HSV-1 and 2 when administered as a vaccine are highly immunogenic and provide protection in mouse models. This work has identified lead vaccine candidate antigens, shown that these can be manufactured using recombinant DNA-technology and that the proteins are immunogenic and protective when administered with conventional adjuvants in mouse models.

Simplexia has built up an ambitious and knowledgeable team with decades of experience of pharmaceutical development. The company has now entered an exciting new phase in its efforts to take ground-breaking research in Gothenburg from the laboratory to patients. I am proud and excited to be joining the company in this journey. The vaccines developed by Simplexia will have a profound effect both on public health and quality of life of individual people.

Tim Wood
CEO, Simplexia AB

“Simplexia has built up an ambitious and knowledgeable team with decades of experience of pharmaceutical development.”
Tim Wood, CEO, Simplexia AB