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Emerging Evidence of Potential Protection From Authorized Ebola Zaire Vaccine Against Bundibugyo Virus Provides Rationale for Evaluating GeoVax’s MVA-Based Ebola Vaccine Candidates
ATLANTA, GA – August 24, 2026 – GeoVax Labs, Inc. (Nasdaq: GOVX), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing vaccines and immunotherapies against infectious diseases and cancers, today announced that it has expanded outreach to global and regional public health organizations regarding the potential relevance of its Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA)-based hemorrhagic fever vaccine portfolio amid the expanding Ebola disease outbreak caused by Bundibugyo virus (BDBV) in various regions of Africa.
The outreach follows GeoVax’s recent announcement highlighting its willingness to contribute vaccine candidates, materials and scientific expertise to the global response. GeoVax is seeking to determine whether its existing hemorrhagic fever vaccine candidates and MVA platform capabilities may warrant evaluation or could support broader Ebola preparedness and response efforts.
Of particular interest is GeoVax’s Zaire Ebola vaccine candidate, GEO-EM01, which previously demonstrated 100% protection following a single intramuscular dose in a non-human primate lethal-challenge study. All vaccinated rhesus macaques survived lethal Zaire Ebola virus challenge, with no live virus detected in tissues from vaccinated animals. The research, conducted in collaboration with scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ Rocky Mountain Laboratories, was originally published in Scientific Reports.
Recent scientific evidence has increased interest in whether vaccines developed against Zaire ebolavirus may also provide some degree of cross-protection against Bundibugyo virus. WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Candidate Vaccine Prioritization recently recommended that the licensed Ebola Zaire vaccine Ervebo® be prioritized for inclusion in a Phase 3 study during the current Bundibugyo outbreak, based on an evolving body of animal, laboratory and human immune-response data suggesting potential cross-protection. Importantly, the extent of such protection remains uncertain and must be established through controlled clinical evaluation.
“The evolving science raises an important question that we believe warrants evaluation,” said David A. Dodd, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GeoVax. “Our Ebola Zaire vaccine demonstrated compelling protection in a stringent non-human primate challenge model, including 100% survival following a single dose. We do not know whether that protection extends to Bundibugyo virus. However, emerging evidence that a Zaire-directed Ebola vaccine may provide some degree of protection against BDBV provides a scientific rationale for asking that question. We are reaching out to the appropriate global health organizations to determine whether our vaccine candidate, materials and MVA platform expertise warrant further evaluation.”
Seeking Various Paths for Evaluation and Development
GeoVax’s outreach is focused on organizations involved in global health security, epidemic preparedness, vaccine evaluation and outbreak response. The Company is exploring potential opportunities that could include independent evaluation of existing vaccine materials, scientific collaboration, public-private partnerships, licensing arrangements or other externally supported development pathways.
GeoVax believes this approach could provide a mechanism for assessing and potentially advancing its hemorrhagic fever vaccine portfolio while preserving the Company’s operational and capital focus on GEO-MVA, its lead infectious disease program targeting mpox and smallpox.
“We believe these assets represent strategic optionality for GeoVax, but our intention is not to divert resources from GEO-MVA,” Dodd continued. “The appropriate path is to determine whether public health organizations, development partners or other third parties see sufficient scientific and strategic value to support further evaluation. If so, we are prepared to explore collaborative structures capable of advancing these assets responsibly.”
GEO-MVA on Schedule for Pivotal Phase 3 Immunobridging Study Initiation in Q4 2026
GeoVax’s primary infectious disease development priority remains GEO-MVA, its MVA-based vaccine candidate for the prevention of mpox and smallpox. The Company is advancing toward a pivotal Phase 3 immunobridging clinical program designed to compare immune responses generated by GEO-MVA with those generated by an established MVA vaccine.
As part of its GEO-MVA activities, GeoVax is developing relationships with healthcare, research and public health organizations in regions confronting significant infectious disease challenges. The Company believes these relationships, together with its broader MVA expertise, provide a foundation for exploring collaborative opportunities involving other high-consequence infectious diseases.
“Our priority remains execution of the GEO-MVA program,” Dodd concluded. “At the same time, the current Ebola outbreak demonstrates why maintaining a portfolio of technologies addressing high-consequence pathogens can have strategic value. Where an opportunity exists to leverage external expertise and resources to evaluate those assets without distracting from our lead program, we believe it is appropriate – and potentially important – to pursue it.”
About GeoVax’s Hemorrhagic Fever Vaccine Portfolio
GeoVax has developed MVA-based vaccine candidates targeting Zaire ebolavirus, Sudan ebolavirus and Marburg virus. The programs have undergone preclinical evaluation, including lethal-challenge studies in non-human primates, and have demonstrated encouraging protective efficacy.
GeoVax’s Zaire Ebola vaccine candidate, GEO-EM01, utilizes the Company’s MVA-VLP technology and previously demonstrated 100% survival in a small rhesus macaque lethal-challenge study following either a single-dose or two-dose vaccination regimen. The single-dose study represented the first reported demonstration that a replication-deficient MVA vector could provide complete protection against lethal Zaire Ebola virus challenge following a single vaccination in rhesus macaques.
GeoVax is evaluating opportunities for collaboration, licensing, public-private partnerships and other externally supported structures that could enable further evaluation and development of these assets while maintaining the Company’s primary operational and capital focus on GEO-MVA.
About GeoVax
GeoVax Labs, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of vaccines and immunotherapies addressing high-consequence infectious diseases and solid tumor cancers. GeoVax’s priority program is GEO-MVA, a Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA)–based vaccine targeting mpox and smallpox. The program is advancing under an expedited regulatory pathway, with plans to initiate a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial in the second half of 2026, to address critical global needs for expanded orthopoxvirus vaccine supply and biodefense preparedness. In oncology, GeoVax is developing Gedeptin®, a gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy (GDEPT) designed to enhance immune checkpoint inhibitor activity. Gedeptin has completed a multicenter Phase 1/2 clinical trial in advanced head and neck cancer and is being advanced into combination strategies, including planned neoadjuvant and first-line settings. GeoVax maintains a global intellectual property portfolio supporting its infectious disease and oncology programs and continues to evaluate strategic partnerships and funding opportunities aligned with its development priorities. For more information, visit www.geovax.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements regarding GeoVax’s business plans. The words “believe,” “look forward to,” “may,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “should,” “plan,” “could,” “target,” “potential,” “is likely,” “will,” “expect” and similar expressions, as they relate to us, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. Actual results may differ materially from those included in these statements due to a variety of factors, including whether: GeoVax is able to obtain acceptable results from ongoing or future clinical trials of its investigational products, GeoVax’s immuno-oncology products and preventative vaccines can provoke the desired responses, and those products or vaccines can be used effectively, GeoVax’s viral vector technology adequately amplifies immune responses to cancer antigens, GeoVax can develop and manufacture its immuno-oncology products and preventative vaccines with the desired characteristics in a timely manner, GeoVax’s immuno-oncology products and preventative vaccines will be safe for human use, GeoVax’s vaccines will effectively prevent targeted infections in humans, GeoVax’s immuno-oncology products and preventative vaccines will receive regulatory approvals necessary to be licensed and marketed, GeoVax raises required capital to complete development, there is development of competitive products that may be more effective or easier to use than GeoVax’s products, GeoVax will be able to enter into favorable manufacturing and distribution agreements, and other factors, over which GeoVax has no control.
Further information on our risk factors is contained in our periodic reports on Form 10-Q and Form 10-K that we have filed and will file with the SEC. Any forward-looking statement made by us herein speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law.
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