Collaboration Core Facility Animal Models & Iguana Biotechnology GmbH

September 28, 2023

The Core Facility Animal Models (CAM) announces a new collaboration with drug discovery start-up Iguana Biotechnology GmbH (Iguana) to test their innovative vaccine candidate against Helicobacter pylori. Helicobacter pylori is one of the most common infectious diseases worldwide. It is a gram-negative bacterium that colonizes the gastric mucosa in approximately 50% of the human population. Early treatment of the infection reduces the risk of developing serious stomach diseases such as peptic ulcers, gastric MALT lymphoma and gastric cancer. The urgent need to develop an effective vaccine stems from the increasing loss of efficacy of established antibiotic therapy and helps reduce the risk of gastric cancer. CAM and Iguana will collaborate to complete the late-stage pre-clinical development. CAM will conduct animal studies to evaluate the new vaccine constructs ACT21 with respect to their drug metabolism, tolerability as well as efficacy.

The Core Facility Animal Models (CAM) at the Biomedical Center is a scientific unit of the LMU Munich. It provides a platform for scientists to conduct animal experiments in accordance with the legal requirements of European and national (German) law. Core responsibility of the CAM is the on-site care of all animals used in research. In addition, the CAM team supports scientists in planning and conducting experiments as well as in providing expert advice and counseling to legal authorities and government offices.

Iguana Biotechnology is a Munich-based Biotech Start-up founded in 2021. Iguana’s core competence is the development of innovative, safe and efficient therapeutic vaccines against infectious diseases that address an unmet medical need and counteract the increasing resistance to antibiotic therapies, using a combination of intensive literature research, exchange with world-class experts and the use of the latest bioinformatics capabilities.