With AI, these possibilities are closer than we think. In just 60 years, the United Nations expects the world’s population to peak at approximately 10.3 billion, roughly 2.1 billion more than the current count. With a rapidly growing population, disease modeling is more crucial than ever. Infectious disease experts race to leverage artificial intelligence to predict the next disease outbreak before it reaches pandemic-level potential.  

Oragenics, Inc., a UF startup and UF Innovate | Sid Martin Biotech graduate company dedicated to fighting infectious diseases including coronaviruses, announced it has entered into definitive agreements with two healthcare-focused investors, in which the Company issued in a private placement (the “Private Placement Offering”), an aggregate of (i) 404,728 shares of the Company’s common stock, $0.001 par value (the “Common Stock”), and (ii) 404,728 shares of Series E Mirroring Preferred Stock (the “Series E Preferred Stock”).

The Company intends to propose an amendment to its Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation, in connection with the Company’s annual meeting of shareholders, to effect an increase in the shares of Common Stock the Company is authorized to issue from 4,166,666 shares of Common Stock to 350,000,000 shares of Common Stock. The Series E Preferred Stock has super voting rights on the proposed amendment equal to 2,500 votes per share of Series E Preferred Stock.

“We’re proud to have our innovative intranasal vaccine candidate studies published in a reputable, peer-reviewed scientific journal, and believe this heightened recognition underscores the need for vaccines that address the limitations of currently available options. These published data, and our on-going GLP toxicology study will be part of our preclinical data package seeking permission to enter our first-in human clinical trials,” said Frederick W. Telling, Ph.D., Executive Chairman of Oragenics.

The publication, [https://rdcu.be/cPyZF] titled “Intranasal Immunization with a Proteosome-Adjuvanted SARS-CoV2 Spike Protein-Based Vaccine is Immunogenic and Efficacious in Mice & Hamsters,” concluded that Oragenics’ intranasal vaccine candidate, NT-CoV2-1, warrants further development as a novel SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.

Announcing its $577 million effort to stock the nation’s medicine chest with new treatments for dangerous viral diseases, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease announced last week that it is establishing nine multi-institution centers focused on developing new medications to address the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, and to treat other viruses with pandemic potential.

Seven UF Scripps scientists plus an engineer will contribute to three of those centers. The federal agency calls the groups “Antiviral Drug Discovery Centers for Pathogens of Pandemic Concern,” or AViDD. The AViDD grant awards to UF Scripps-directed projects and scientific core services could total more than $15 million over the next three to five years.

The UF team previously reported that patients who recovered from severe COVID-19 have more than twice the mortality risk within the year following their illness than people who have not contracted the virus. The new findings, published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine, are the first to use biomarkers to help explain the increased risk.

“This study helps to clarify why people who are hospitalized with COVID-19 end up being at high risk for death after they recover. The findings also take us to a new level of understanding of not just the mechanism for illness, but also a potential treatment that may prevent deaths among these patients,” said Arch G. Mainous III, Ph.D., the study’s lead investigator and a professor in the department of health services research, management and policy at the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions, part of UF Health, the university’s academic health center.

The NT-CoV2-1 intranasal vaccine program approach is focused on patient-friendly administration, reducing transmission through a mucosal immune response, and to provide long-lasting protection. As a recombinant protein and adjunctive vaccine, NT-CoV2-1 is differentiated compared to live-attenuated intranasal vaccines candidates that may cause greater side effects and harder to produce. Animal models have demonstrated NT-CoV2-1 intranasal formulation induced robust immune responses, lowering the viral load below detection of the assay in the nasal passages and the lungs. Currently, an IND-enabling GLP toxicology study is ongoing. The Company expects to initiate a first-in-human Phase 1 trial in previously vaccinated healthy adults this year.