AUMED, a.s. Received Support for the Project “Development of an Immunization Product for Protection Against the Causative Agent of Whooping Cough”

AUMED has received support for the project titled “Development of an Immunization Product for Protection Against the Causative Agent of Whooping Cough,” project code: FW12010329.

The primary goal of the project is to develop a product for mucosal immunization against infection by the causative agent of whooping cough, the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. A preparation in the form of a mucoadhesive lyophilized tablet will be developed and tested for safety and efficacy after oral administration in a preclinical mouse model. The causative agent of pertussis, or whooping cough – Bordetella pertussis – ranks among the most epidemiologically significant human pathogens. People of all age groups can contract whooping cough, with the most vulnerable being infants under three months of age who have not yet been vaccinated, as well as frail elderly individuals.

After the introduction of nationwide pertussis vaccination in 1958, mortality and morbidity rates rapidly and significantly declined. From the original tens of thousands of cases annually, the incidence of pertussis between the late 1970s and 1992 ranged from 5 to 48 cases per year. The lowest number of cases, just five, was reported in 1989. However, the current situation has again become alarming. Since the beginning of January 2024, the Czech Republic has been experiencing a massive whooping cough epidemic, which has already claimed six lives (one infant and five elderly individuals). From April to the end of June, more than 1,000 new cases of whooping cough were diagnosed weekly in the Czech Republic. The number of infected carriers who did not seek medical attention is estimated at 20,000 to 50,000 per week, since the majority of infections in fully vaccinated individuals go undetected, allowing for widespread transmission of the pathogen. The resurgence of whooping cough is a Europe-wide issue.

The aim of the project is therefore to develop an easily administrable immunization product capable of stopping this dramatically rising trend in whooping cough infections by inducing mucosal immunity against B. pertussis. The goal is to develop a product that enables easy, safe, and widespread administration of a booster dose in a suitable non-invasive application form — a mucoadhesive tablet repeatedly placed in the oral cavity to induce group mucosal immunity against pertussis.

AUMED, a.s. will collaborate on the project with the Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Bacterial Pathogens, part of the Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences (AV ČR), which holds a unique position in the Czech Republic and is internationally recognized as one of the leading institutions in the field of whooping cough research.

The project will be financially supported by the TREND programme under the 12th public competition round, mediated by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TA ČR).