Advertise With UsAdvertise on our extensive network of industry websites and newsletters.
Get the PBR newsletterSign up to our free email to get all the latest PBR
news.US-based biotechnology firm VaxInnate has started a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled Phase Ib/II trial of its seasonal quadrivalent influenza vaccine candidate, VAX2012Q, in healthy adults 65-75 years of age.
Subscribe to our email newsletter
VAX2012Q incorporates a bacterial flagellin protein designed to improve the adaptive immune response to the vaccine.
The trial is designed to evaluate the vaccine’s safety and immunogenicity in this elderly population.
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the US Department of Health and Human Services, has funded the production of VAX2012Q for use in this trial.
VaxInnate president and chief executive officer Wayne Pisano said: "We believe our novel, differentiated vaccine platform and production scalability is particularly well-suited to develop vaccines for the elderly, whose immune systems typically require greater stimulation, often in the form of increased antigen, to generate a protective response.
"In this seasonal influenza trial, we will evaluate several doses of VAX2012Q to determine the dose of antigen for future development, and expect top-line data in the second quarter of 2015."
VAX2012Q includes four seasonal influenza strains, each fused to a flagellin protein, which acts as a toll-like receptor (TLR) ligand.
The TLR class of proteins is known to activate the innate immune system, which in turn improves the adaptive immune response to vaccines.
About 200 healthy adults aged 65-75 years will be enrolled in the Phase Ib/II trial and they will be administered either VAX2012Q or placebo.