Vaccine developer Phylogica is having success in attempts to develop the world’s first herpes cure.

The company (ASX:PYC) told investors late on Thursday  it had demonstrated the effectiveness of a vaccine containing its cell penetrating peptide (CPP) in mice.

The news moved shares up 6.5 per cent to 3.3c in early trade on Friday.

Phylogica is developing a peptide vaccine using its CPPs to harness the power of the immune system to fight a disease.

The CPPs deliver antigens that are unique to diseased tissues (viruses or cancer) to the body’s immune system to provoke an amplified immune response against the diseased tissue.

Phylogica’s tests showed that 75 per cent of mice that received the vaccination had no detectable virus after being infected with the Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV).

HSV infections manifest as cold sores on the face or sores in the genital area.

There is currently no cure for herpes, which is transmitted via skin-to-skin contact.

Genital herpes is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases in Australia.

Phylogica said the vaccine containing its CPP was the top performing treatment group across all experiments.

An animal model designed to provide a competitive assessment of the efficacy of Phylogica’s CPPs when compared to Amal Therapeutics ‘zebra’ CPP is currently underway.

Amal Therapeutics recently raised about $50m to progress its peptide vaccine into clinical development for the treatment of colo-rectal cancer.

The competitive evaluation will be the first “head-to-head” assessment of Phylogica’s CPPs against a commercially competitive product.

Results are expected in the first quarter of 2019.

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