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NEWS | Aug. 24, 2022

DoD Awards Synthetic Human Antibody Prototype Agreement to Treat High-Priority Toxins and Pathogens

On July 14, 2022, the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense’s (JPEO-CBRND) Joint Project Manager for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Medical (JPM CBRN Medical) awarded a prototype agreement with GigaGen, Inc., a subsidiary of Grifols. This agreement, awarded through Army Contracting Command, will evaluate if GigaGen’s novel platform capabilities can rapidly create a fully-synthetic human antibody product to protect against botulinum neurotoxins (BoNT) A and B. The prototype agreement can support follow-on testing against other DoD-priority toxins and pathogens, as well as advanced development activities including manufacturing and clinical testing to demonstrate improved potency and military utility. 

The JPM CBRN Medical awarded GigaGen this prototype agreement under the JPEO-CBRND’s SPARK program, an idea incubator that fuels innovation and problem solving by supporting technical and process-related projects. 

GigaGen’s Next-Generation Hyperimmune Platform offers a novel way to develop polyclonal hyperimmune medicines. Using high-throughput, single-cell sequencing of pathogen-specific immune repertoires and recombinant DNA technologies, the platform creates cell lines that will express recombinant (synthetic) human antibodies. The polyclonal cell bank can then be used to continuously manufacture the pathogen-specific hyperimmune product at existing manufacturing facilities, such as the DoD’s medical countermeasure advanced development and manufacturing facility.   

This effort will demonstrate an accelerated, target-specific therapeutic manufacturing platform’s ability to rapidly create and express polyclonal antibody cell banks against BoNT A and B. It will also confirm if rapid manufacturing timelines will support the JPEO-CBRND’s preparedness goals and ability to deliver timely capabilities against known or emerging threats to the warfighter.

About the JPM CBRN Medical: The Joint Project Manager for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Medical (JPM CBRN Medical), a component of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense, aims to provide U.S. military forces and the nation with safe, effective, and innovative medical solutions to counter chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats. The JPM CBRN Medical facilitates the advanced development and acquisition of medical countermeasures and systems to enhance the nation’s biodefense response capability. To learn more about the JPM CBRN Medical, visit https://www.jpeocbrnd.osd.mil/coronavirus or follow JPEO-CBRND on social media at @JPEOCBRND.  

About the JPEO-CBRND: The Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND) protects the Joint Force by providing medical countermeasures and defense equipment against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats. The JPEO-CBRND’s goal is to enable the Joint Force to fight and win unencumbered by a CBRN environment. The JPEO-CBRND facilitates the rapid response, advanced development, manufacturing and acquisition of medical solutions, such as vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics, to combat CBRN and emerging threats such as COVID-19. To learn more about the JPEO-CBRND’s COVID-19 response, visit https://www.jpeocbrnd.osd.mil/coronavirus or follow the JPEO-CBRND on social media at @JPEOCBRND.

 

JPEO-CBRND Press Kit

Download our press kit, which includes helpful documents to better understand our work, such as – Command Brief, Chemical Biological Defense Program's Enterprise strategy, the JPEO-CBRND's Capabilities Catalog, Leadership Biographies, COVID-19 fact sheets, and contracting overview documents.  

 

 


JPEO-CBRND Public Affairs Office

The JPEO-CBRND Public Affairs Office coordinates and responds to all public affairs and media relations needs on behalf of the JPEO-CBRND. To request a speaker, subject matter expert, or for other interview or request for comment please email our Public Affairs Office email below.