Elarex’s mission is to get more drugs and medicines to the people who need them by helping manufacturers eliminate the dependence of vaccines and biologic drugs on the cold chain.
The dependence on the cold chain not only holds back these therapies from making it to hard to reach markets, but it relies on expensive infrastructure which can often break down, rendering an entire batch of expensive product ruined.
The stabilization technology that we have patented will also give an unstable product the chance to make it to market. In some cases, the cold chain is not enough to keep an unstable vaccine or biologic drug viable. The additional stabilization of our technology can allow this product to make it to market, where it otherwise may never be commercialized.
Elarex formulation technology platforms are proven to dramatically improve temperature stabilization of biologicals, including vaccines so that they can be stored at 40°C and be as stable as they would be at -80°C.
With the support of McMaster University, Elarex aims to demonstrate room temperature stabilization of two vaccine types, eliminating the need for cold-chain transportation.
Our technology combines viral vectors with an optimized formulation and drying process that delivers unmatched performance.
The process and formulation is easily adopted to existing vaccines, and does not require special equipment or novel adjuvants.
The COVID pandemic has shown that the use of the viral vector means that the nucleic acid payload can be quickly changed to create a new vaccine fast.
Temperature stability is useful in the fridge, but is critical for long term storage or when shipping outside the cold chain.
Dr. Filipe’s lab at McMaster University started experimenting with stabilizing vaccines and biologics in pullulan in 2014. This breakthrough work evolved to include trehalose and has resulted in numerous publications and patents. In 2019, Elarex Inc. was co-founded by Robert DeWitte and Carlos Filipe to bring this proprietary technology to market in the form of PT120-D. Since then, we have iterated on this formulation and process to get to the breakthrough stabilization we have today.
This dried technology platform is a straightforward, patented formulation that has been developed over the past nine years at McMaster University. It offers exceptional temperature stabilization that has been shown to stabilize vaccines that normally require -80°C storage to be stored at 40°C, a difference of 120 degrees. In vivo data in mice has shown that this stabilization results in effective vaccines when stored at the higher temperature. No freeze drying is necessary, and the process is simple, with all the components of the solution on the FDA “GRAS” list (Generally Regarded as Safe). This differs from all the other competitors’ offerings in this field.
This technology has also been shown to be applicable to a wide array of bio-therapeutics beyond vaccines. Small molecules, enzymes, biologics, DNA and RNA have all been shown to benefit from the stabilization offered by this technology.
Our team is defined by our core values of Teamwork, Impact and Scientific Rigour. We are guided by a common desire to have a positive impact on the world through solving big problems with scientific rigour and doing it as a united team.
