Company: DVAX
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001029142-25-000049
Chunk: 4

Company: DYNAVAX TECHNOLOGIES CORP
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 4
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F1V) vaccine candidate adjuvanted with CpG 1018 in collaboration with and fully funded by the U.S. Department of Defense ("DoD").

Additionally, we manufacture and have supplied in the past CpG 1018 adjuvant, the adjuvant used in HEPLISAV-B, through both commercial supply agreements and preclinical and clinical research collaborations with third-party organizations.

Adjuvant Technology Overview: Toll-like Receptor Targeted Immune Modulation Platform

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are a family of transmembrane proteins that play a vital role in innate immunity and subsequent adaptive immunity. Signaling through these receptors is triggered by the binding of a variety of pathogen-associated molecules and is essential to generation of innate immunity. The innate immune response is the first line of defense against viruses, bacteria and other potential pathogens. Importantly, the innate response initiates and regulates the generation of an adaptive immune response composed of highly specific antibodies and T cells. Compounds used in vaccine products that stimulate enhanced immune responses are generally referred to as adjuvants.

Our work in this area has been focused primarily on stimulation of a subset of TLRs that recognize bacterial and viral nucleic acids. This work resulted in the identification of proprietary unmethylated synthetic oligonucleotides (short segments of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)), that mimic the activity of microbial DNA, and selectively activate one of these important receptors, TLR9. These TLR9 agonists are called CpG oligonucleotides – or “CpGs” for short – referring to the presence of specific nucleotide sequences containing the CG base pair. 

Our vaccine research to date has focused on the use of TLR9 agonists as novel vaccine adjuvants. B-Class TLR9 agonists, such as our CpG 1018 adjuvant, stimulate release of cytokines necessary for T cell activation establishing long-term immunity. TLR9 stimulation particularly helps generate Th1 immune responses that are important to control pathogens such as viruses and bacteria. As a result, TLR9 adjuvanted vaccines induce a specific Th1 immune response and 

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more durable levels of protective antibodies relative to non-adjuvanted vaccines. Our CpG 1018 adjuvant has an established tolerability profile demonstrated in a wide range of clinical trials and real-world, commercial use, and has consistently demonstrated its ability to enhance the immune response without excessive reactogenicity