Vaxart Doses First Subject in Phase 1 Trial of its Norovirus Vaccine Candidate in Lactating Mothers

Vaxart, Inc. recently announced it has dosed the first subject in its Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating Vaxart’s oral pill bivalent norovirus vaccine candidate focused on lactating mothers.

“Initiating this study is an important step toward Vaxart’s goal of developing a vaccine that may reduce the significant global health threat norovirus poses to children under 5 years of age,” said Dr. James F. Cummings, Vaxart’s Chief Medical Officer. “We believe an oral norovirus vaccine pill may make it possible for mothers to protect their infants against this highly contagious virus for which there currently is no approved vaccine.”

Norovirus sickens approximately 21 million people in the US each year, and 15% of children under age 5 contract norovirus annually. This would translate into about 3 million sets of parents needing to take time from work (approximately 2.2 days on average) to care for their children.

Globally, in countries that have adopted a rotavirus vaccine program, norovirus has become the leading cause of pediatric gastroenteritis in health care settings. Pediatric deaths in the US due to norovirus are rare, but they are much more common in the developing world.

The Phase 1, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled single dose, dose-ranging study is designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of orally administered bivalent GI.1/GII.4 norovirus vaccine in healthy lactating females of at least 18 years of age and their breast-feeding infants (aged 30 days to 11 months). The study is expected to enroll approximately 76 subjects at seven sites in South Africa. Subjects will be randomized into high- or low-dose vaccine (N=30 for each arm) or placebo (N=16). The primary endpoints are:

• Frequency, duration and severity of solicited symptoms of reactogenicity (local and systemic) for one week following study drug dose;
• Frequency, duration and severity of unsolicited treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs), serious AEs (SAEs), adverse events of special interest (AESIs) and new onset of chronic illness (NOCIs) through the active period (four weeks post dose);
• Serum VP1-specific (GI.1 and GII.4) IgA on Day 1 (baseline), Day 8 and Day 29 (four weeks post last dose);
• Breastmilk VP1-specific (GI.1 and GII.4) IgA on Day 1 (baseline), Day 8 and Day 29 (four weeks post last dose).

Vaxart is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a range of oral recombinant vaccines based on its proprietary delivery platform. Vaxart vaccines are designed to be administered using pills that can be stored and shipped without refrigeration and eliminate the risk of needle-stick injury. Vaxart believes that its proprietary pill vaccine delivery platform is suitable to deliver recombinant vaccines, positioning the company to develop oral versions of currently marketed vaccines and to design recombinant vaccines for new indications. Vaxart’s development programs currently include pill vaccines designed to protect against coronavirus, norovirus, seasonal influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), as well as a therapeutic vaccine for human papillomavirus (HPV), Vaxart’s first immune-oncology indication. Vaxart has filed broad domestic and international patent applications covering its proprietary technology and creations for oral vaccination using adenovirus and TLR3 agonists.