25 February 2019 - - The United States Food and Drug Administration has granted fast track designation to Austrian biopharmaceutical company Themis Bioscience's lead vaccine candidate (MV-CHIK) for the prevention of Chikungunya, a debilitating disease with global outbreak potential, the company said.

The programme is the most advanced Chikungunya vaccine candidate and has already successfully completed Phase 2 clinical development with results recently published in The Lancet. 

MV-CHIK is the first candidate from Themis' innovative immunomodulation platform based on the measles vector, one of the safest and most efficacious vaccines available, and has already been tested in over 600 study volunteers in the US, EU and Central America.

The fast track process is designed to facilitate the development and expedite the review of investigational drugs to treat severe conditions and fill an unmet medical need.

Themis is developing immunomodulation therapies for infectious diseases and cancer.

Through advanced understanding of immune system mechanisms, the company has built a sophisticated and versatile technology platform for the discovery, development and production of vaccines as well as other immune system activation approaches.

Initially focused on preventing infectious diseases, Themis has demonstrated the potential of its versatile platform through the rapid progression into Phase 2 clinical development for a vaccine against Chikungunya, a debilitating disease with global outbreak potential.

Funded to date by Europe-based VCs, Themis has also gained prestigious non-dilutive funding for emerging infectious disease indications.

The company will apply its platform and commercial manufacturing capabilities to diseases with high market potential both alone and for its partners.