[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 22 (Thursday, February 4, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8213-8214]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-02294]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health


Government-Owned Inventions; Availability for Licensing

AGENCY: National Institutes of Health, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The invention listed below is owned by an agency of the U.S. 
Government and is available for licensing as a biological material to 
achieve expeditious commercialization of results of federally-funded 
research and development. Foreign patent applications are filed on 
selected inventions to extend market coverage for companies and may 
also be available for licensing.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeffrey Thruston at 301-594-5179 or 
[email protected]. Licensing information may be obtained by 
communicating with the Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property 
Office, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, 5601 
Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20852; tel. 301-496-2644. A signed 
Confidential Disclosure Agreement will be required to receive copies of 
unpublished information related to the invention.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Technology description follows:

A VSV-EBOV-Based Vaccine Against COVID-19

Description of Technology

    Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the 
causative agent of for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). COVID-19 is 
characterized by fever, cough, difficulty breathing, loss of taste and 
smell, nausea, and sore throat. As of the fourth quarter 2020, COVID-19 
is responsible for over 1.17 million deaths worldwide. As the pandemic 
continues to surge, the importance of a safe, affordable, and 
efficacious vaccine is of urgent importance. The present technology 
utilizes the well characterized vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) 
encoding the Ebola virus (VSV-EBOV) to express additionally a codon-
optimized SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. A single intranasal or 
intramuscular administration of the vaccine showed protective efficacy 
against COVID-19 in hamsters after 4 weeks. A single intramuscular 
injection showed protective efficacy against COVID-19 pneumonia in 
rhesus macaques within 10 days. The vaccine is inexpensive to 
replicate, elicits a high antigen-specific antibody titer within

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the host, and provides protective efficacy after a single dose.
    This technology is available for licensing, as a biological 
material, for commercial development in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 209 
and 37 CFR part 404.

Potential Commercial Applications

 Single dose vaccine against COVID-19

Competitive Advantages

 Utilizes the established and well characterized VSV-EBOV 
vector
 Expresses high antigen titers within host cells
 Single dose protective efficacy against COVID-19
 Inexpensive and replicable

Development Stage

 Prototype
 In vivo/In vitro

    Inventors: Andrea Marzi (NIAID), Wakako Asada (NIAID).
    Licensing Contact: To license this technology, please contact 
Jeffrey Thruston at 301-594-5179 or [email protected], and 
reference E-233-2017-0.

    Dated: January 19, 2021.
Surekha Vathyam,
Deputy Director, Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Office, 
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
[FR Doc. 2021-02294 Filed 2-3-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-P