Novavax Receives SBIR Grant From NIH

Novavax has received a Small Business and Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant from the NIAID valued at approximately $246,000, supports a segment of the company’s preclinical research program for the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) particle-based vaccine.

Reportedly, Novavax has an RSV vaccine candidate in preclinical development, which is directed against a protein on the surface of the virus, the F or fusion protein. The virus uses the F protein to infect and fuse with cells in the respiratory tract and cause disease.

RSV-F vaccine candidate has been shown to protect mice against RSV disease and can be produced at sufficient yields and high purity to allow commercial manufacture.

The company has said that the SBIR grant will support continued preclinical development of the RSV-F vaccine candidate utilising the bovine calf model. Calves are susceptible to RSV and have illnesses similar to those seen in human infants with RSV. Thus, the data from studies in calves have the potential to be of great value in development of an RSV vaccine for the pediatric population.

Rahul Singhvi, president and CEO of Novavax, said: “This funding will further support preclinical studies that may be especially important for development of our RSV vaccine in children, for whom no vaccines are currently available.”