Avista Pharma and MMRF partners to produce conjugate vaccine to combat substance abuse

Avista Pharma Solutions announced that Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation (MMRF) has selected Avista Pharma to manufacture an opioid-derived small molecule. The research is funded by a 3-year grant to the MMRF from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Avista Pharma is registered with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to handle controlled substances.

Dr. Brian Heasley, manager of process chemistry at Avista Pharma and project lead, said that they are very optimistic about a positive outcome, as they have a great team of chemists working on this compound and are about to enter the critical stage of GMP manufacturing. Through this partnership, they are creating the synthetic small molecule that MMRF needs to continue their great work in protecting patients from opioid abuse or relapse.

Through this collaboration, MMRF now has the small molecule component required to optimize the bioconjugation stage of the synthetic vaccine’s overall manufacturing process. GMP production of the molecule and associated conjugate vaccine to support clinical development will follow shortly thereafter.

Opioid abuse is a serious public health issue, as drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the United States according to Marco Pravetoni, Ph.D., MMRF researcher, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School and one of the study’s principal investigators. Overdoses most commonly involve heroin and prescription opioid drugs, such as oxycodone, hydrocodone and fentanyl.