AVANT Immunotherapeutics Achieves Immune Responses Against Cholera, Typhoid and Enterotoxigenic E. coli with a Single-Dose, Oral Combination Vaccine
Wednesday December 5, 9:00 am ET
NEEDHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AVANT Immunotherapeutics (Nasdaq: AVAN - News) today reported preclinical data demonstrating positive immunogenicity and lack of immune interference for an experimental single-dose, oral vaccine combining protection from three of the most important causes of severe enteric diseases: typhoid fever, enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) and cholera. The experimental, trivalent vaccine consists of the co-administration of two live-attenuated bacteria: the Peru-15pCTB vaccine candidate that forms the basis of AVANT’s investigational combination ETEC/cholera vaccine and AVANT’s investigational typhoid fever vaccine, Ty800.
The data were presented today as a poster at the United States-Japan Cooperative Medical Science Program 42nd Panel Meeting on Cholera and Other Bacterial Infections, held in Austin, Texas.
“One issue surrounding the development of combination vaccines is the potential for vaccine interference, whereby competition for colonization and/or the immune response against one vaccine organism or antigen may negatively impact the immune response against another,” said Lawrence J. Thomas, Ph.D., of AVANT Immunotherapeutics. “We have now demonstrated in a rabbit immunization model that oral dosing of our trivalent vaccine effectively induces the production of specific antibodies against all three disease organisms at titers not significantly different from those elicited by either the Peru-15pCTB or Ty800 vaccines when administered alone.”
“Demonstrating a lack of vaccine interference is an important step in the development of a “Super-enteric” vaccine capable of combining rapid protection against multiple disease agents in a single, oral dose,” said Una S. Ryan, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of AVANT Immunotherapeutics. “Vaccines that protect against multiple diseases with a single dose are highly valued in all target markets, including travelers, military and people in developing countries where these diseases are widespread.”
AVANT Immunotherapeutics recently announced that the National Institutes of Health will be sponsoring a Phase 1 clinical trial of the Peru-15pCTB vaccine combining protection against ETEC and cholera in Q1 2008, and AVANT’s Ty800 is currently undergoing Phase 2 clinical testing.
“If the results of these current clinical studies are successful, the preclinical data presented today pave the way for initial human clinical testing of a trivalent Super-enteric vaccine,” commented Dr. Ryan. |
