Tiba Biotech, a US preclinical biopharmaceutical company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has announced a partnership with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response at the US Department of Health and Human Services.
The collaboration, initiated through an EZ-BAA [easy broad agency announcement] contract, is set to develop groundbreaking therapeutics against influenza with a focus on RNA-mediated interference (RNAi) technologies.
The $749,999 contract was awarded through a competitive review process.
It supports the early-stage development of Tiba Biotech's therapeutic platform for BARDA's flexible and strategic therapeutics programme.
The programme's goal is to advance technologies that can be quickly deployed to combat emerging viral threats.
Tiba Biotech's initial efforts will concentrate on creating a prototype RNAi-based therapeutic targeting the highly conserved viral nucleoprotein of H1N1 influenza.
The therapeutic will be delivered using Tiba's proprietary RNABL platform.
Tiba Biotech co-founder and lead investigator of the project Dr Jasdave Chahal, expressed enthusiasm about the award: "We are excited to receive this BARDA award, which will advance Tiba's innovative approach to combating influenza and other viral threats. We believe our technology has the potential to transform the landscape of RNA therapeutics."
The partnership builds on Tiba's existing efforts to tackle influenza pandemic threats.
Tiba is developing a novel multi-antigen mRNA-based H7N9 flu vaccine, funded under a Phase II SBIR award from the National Institutes of Health and in collaboration with the Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Centers.
Tiba was recently accepted into BLUE KNIGHT, a joint initiative between Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS and BARDA, which seeks to drive innovation in addressing future health threats.
The project with BARDA is fully supported by federal funds from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.
