Vaxart to present new data from Phase 2 Challenge study of oral H1 Flu vaccine

Vaxart announced it will present new data from the Phase 2 Challenge Study of its H1 influenza oral tablet vaccine at IDWeek 2018 in San Francisco on Saturday, October 6, 2018. “These latest results show that our vaccine elicited a significant expansion of mucosal homing receptor alpha4beta7+ plasmablasts to approximately 60% of all activated B cells, while Fluzone only maintained baseline levels of 20%. We believe these beta7+ plasmablasts are a key indicator of a protective mucosal immune response and a unique feature of our oral recombinant vaccines,” said CSO Sean Tucker. “Further analysis of the data also confirm that, while our vaccine also generated protective hemagglutinin inhibition antibodies in serum like conventional injectable flu vaccines, it primarily protected through the mucosal mechanism, providing a robust 39% reduction in illness versus placebo overall. In contrast, Fluzone, the market-leading injectable quadrivalent influenza vaccine, only provided a 27% reduction in illness versus placebo, while protecting primarily through HAI antibodies.” Vaxart previously reported only 37% of study participants receiving the Vaxart vaccine developed influenza infection after challenge, compared to 44% of those receiving Fluzone and 71% of those receiving placebo. The new Phase 2 data to be presented at IDWeek 2018 showed that the Vaxart vaccine generated a strong increase in mucosal homing antibody secreting cells, or beta7+ plasmablasts. In protected study participants, the percentage of beta7+ plasmablasts in recipients of the Vaxart vaccine nearly doubled, whereas the percentage of beta7+ plasmablasts in Fluzone recipients remained unchanged. The Phase 2 study was completed with support from Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. Vaxart received a $13.9M contract from BARDA in September 2015 to support the advanced development of more effective influenza vaccines to ultimately improve seasonal and pandemic influenza preparedness. The contract was increased to $15.7M in 2017.
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