The vaccine candidate, PEV4 is a modern subunit vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which is based on a recombinant RSV-F protein formulated with Pevion Biotech’s proprietary and market-validated virosome technology platform.
Pevion Biotech has successfully demonstrated the safety and efficacy of its RSV vaccine candidate in three independent studies carried out at different institutions.
The studies showed with high reproducibility that either two or three injections given in three-week intervals with two different doses of RSV-F antigen formulated with virosomes were able to induce high levels of neutralizing antibodies.
In the trial, the immunized animals (mice and cotton rats) were challenged with live RSV to test for protective efficacy of the vaccine candidate. PEV4 prevented the occurrence of severe disease, and vaccinated animals quickly recovered from the virus challenge in contrast to unvaccinated animals.
Moreover, animals vaccinated with PEV4 showed a strongly reduced virus load in their lungs in comparison to untreated control animals.
Peter JM Openshaw, director of the centre for respiratory infection of Imperial College London, said: “Among the numerous studies on RSV vaccines I have reviewed, the positive results of the PEV4 vaccine were particularly impressive with regard to the unusually high degree of protection as well as the excellent reproducibility within various independent studies.”
Pevion Biotech is developing an RSV vaccine especially for elderly people, who have increased safety and efficacy needs.
Thomas Stauffer, CEO Pevion Biotech, said: “Already clinically validated in a number of studies, virosome-based subunit vaccines fulfill these requirements. As an added bonus, the RSV PEV4 vaccine could also be used in combination with other vaccines for the same population.”