Results from the studies suggest that the company’s patented vaccine adjuvant known as Vaxfectin has the potential to be used as a dose-sparing agent with conventional flu vaccines against seasonal or pandemic flu strains. The company is developing a Vaxfectin-formulated DNA vaccine designed to protect against emerging strains of flu virus that have the potential to cause a pandemic.
In the study Vaxfectin-formulated vaccines yielded significantly higher immune response than unformulated vaccines at the same dose.
Vical’s lead Vaxfectin-formulated, three-component DNA vaccine candidate against avian flu provided 100% protection in mice and ferrets against lethal challenges with a highly virulent H5N1 virus.
Vaxfectin formulations have demonstrated good tolerability and adjuvant activity in multiple animal models.