https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/hiv-test-maker-atomo-says-it-could-have-helped-university-of-queensland-with-its-covid19-vaccine/news-story/3e919ad7ba5a764678d87ae81ed23b7f
HIV test maker Atomo says it could have helped University of Queensland with its Covid-19 vaccine
EXCLUSIVE
JARED LYNCH REPORTER
12:10PM MAY 31, 2021
Australia’s homegrown Covid-19 vaccine - dumped after triggering false HIV positives - could be rebooted, with an up and coming biotech believing it can help catapult the jab back into the fight against coronavirus.
Atomo, which has developed a self HIV test, floated on the ASX in April last year and has some big backers including Ellerston and Joe Hockey’s Bondi Partners.While it is focused on launching in the US, it believes it could have helped the University of Queensland’s Covid-19 vaccine development, particularly by working around the false HIV positives which sank the project.
It comes as Melbourne is plunged into its fourth lockdown and business leaders call on Australians eligible for a Covid-19 vaccine to get the jab to avoid future shutdowns and large scale outbreaks.
The University of Queensland and Australia’s biggest health company CSL had developed a Covid-19 vaccine, using the university’s molecular clamp technology. But the vaccine did not progress to phase 2/3 clinical trials after it triggered false HIV positives.
This was despite the vaccine candidate having few side effects, unlike the AstraZeneca vaccine, of which the federal government has bought more than 50m doses but which has been linked to rare blood clots.
“We think our test might have been able to help there,” Atomo managing director John Kelly said.“My understanding is that one of the problems was that they just didn’t want to confuse the messaging around vaccine delivery.
“If you were rolling out a vaccine but then there was this associated false positive risks that might be detrimental to the uptake of the vaccine. It was more about public policy and perception and it was about the realities of working through the actual problem.”
It comes as resistance is growing among Australians over 50 to the AstraZeneca vaccine, despite health experts advising it is safe for use in that age bracket.
But there is wariness given the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation has recommended the Pfizer vaccine be given preference over the AstraZeneca jab for those aged under 50 after its link to a rare blood-clotting syndrome was detected in April.
Scientists from the University of Queensland have since published clinical trial data which confirmed their molecular clamp-stabilised vaccine was safe and potentially effective.
Project co-leader, Associate Professor Keith Chappell, said 99 per cent of vaccinated participants in the study produced “a neutralising immune response”.
“In 75 per cent of vaccine recipients it was above the average in recovered patients, and in 38 per cent it was more than twice the average for recovered patients,“ he said.
“Adverse events were comparable to those in the saline placebo, with the only exceptions being mild injection site pain and tenderness.”
Project co-leader Professor Paul Young ruled out the vaccine candidate being included in Australia’s current Covid-19 immunisation program. However he left the door open for future use.
“The team understood the decision in December to shift the focus to other candidates that were showing promise. Some of these vaccines are now in market and need to remain the immediate priority.
“The team is continuing to work on alternative clamp constructs that could be used to respond to Covid in the future or other viral diseases.”
In the meantime, Atomo has recruited Bondi Partners to help launch the company in the US and “establish a meaningful foothold in the $US8bn” American point-of-care test market.
Atomo will issue Bondi Partners four million options in two tranches, at exercise prices of 40c and 60c. This compares with Atomo’s current share price of 16.7c.
The company is hoping engaging Bondi Partners will replicate the success Mr Hockey’s firm had with Brisbane-biotech Ellume, which managed to extract $US265m from the US government to accelerate the manufacturing of its rapid Covid-19 tests.
“That success is very encouraging and it shows as a pathway there for Australian companies to come to the US market. And Bondi were instrumental in making that happen for Ellume so that was obviously encouraging for us,” Mr Kelly said.
Mr Hockey said: “Bondi Partners looks forward to working with Atomo to support its entry to the United States - the largest and most influential diagnostics market in the world.
“Atomo’s technology is a great example of world-leading Australian innovation and they have the potential to make a major contribution to the evolution of healthcare delivery in the US.”
