Gaithersburg, MD — US-based biotech company VLP Therapeutics, Inc. (VLPT) announced on December 28 that it has signed a memorandum of understanding on potential collaboration with Nobelpharma Co., Ltd. for the development and commercialization of infectious diseases vaccines. Pursuant to the memorandum, the two companies began discussion on a potential collaboration in the development, manufacturing, and commercialization of prophylactic vaccines against diseases such as malaria and dengue fever.

VLPT is committed to tackling the global public health challenges through the research and development of a cancer treatment vaccine and infectious disease vaccines, thereby making a social impact.

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About Nobelpharma: Since its inception in 2003, Nobelpharma Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Managing Director & CEO: Jin Shiomura) has adhered to its corporate mission of  “Contribute to society by providing critical but neglected pharmaceuticals and medical devices” by working towards the objective of delivering pharmaceuticals and medical devices that are craved for but do not receive the attention of other companies to patients. In 2021, the Vaccine Division was established to accelerate the development of malaria and other infectious disease vaccines. [https://www.nobelpharma.co.jp/en/]

About VLP Therapeutics: VLP Therapeutics, Inc. (VLPT), co-founded in 2013 by Drs. Wataru Akahata, Ryuji Ueno, and Sachiko Kuno, is a Gaithersburg, MD-based biotech company with a mission to address unmet medical needs worldwide and expand the frontiers of vaccine treatment. Led by CEO Akahata VLPT is currently engaged in research and development of a cancer treatment vaccine as well as prophylactic vaccines against malaria, dengue, etc. using VLPT’s proprietary platform technologies.

About Dr. Wataru Akahata: Upon graduation from the University of Tokyo in 1997, Akahata studied at Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies. In 2002 he earned a PhD for his HIV vaccine studies under supervision of professor Hayami Masanori at the Kyoto University Institute for Virus Research. He then started his career at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Vaccine Research Center in the US through 2012. During that time he invented a virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine for chikungunya virus in 2009, on which he published an original article in Nature Medicine with the VLP image featured on the cover in 2010. He eventually won a NIH Director’s Award for his discovery of the vaccine and three other alphavirus vaccines in 2012. In addition to his role as the co-founder and CEO of VLP Therapeutics, Inc. in the US and CEO and chief R&D officer of VLP Therapeutics Japan, LLC, Akahata serves as a visiting professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and specially appointed associate professor at the Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan.

Contact: Yutaka Iijima, Director of Global Communications and IR