San Mateo Daily Journal
By Angela Swartz Daily Journal
November 06, 2014
Company developing Ebola vaccine: South City’s Vaxart is working on pill to eradicate disease
November 06, 2014, 05:00 AM By Angela Swartz Daily Journal
An Ebola vaccine is being developed in the Peninsula’s backyard.
South San Francisco-based Vaxart recently announced it would revive development of an experimental vaccine it stopped in 2012 due to low interest. So far, no vaccines for Ebola have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA. However, the most recent outbreak of Ebola in West Africa that started in March has companies like Vaxart jumping on the chance to help combat the disease.
The 20-person biotechnology company that develops vaccine technology for the treatment of infectious diseases, located at 385 Oyster Point Blvd., is working on developing an oral Ebola vaccine. It recently reported that it will ask the FDA to begin early safety clinical trials in humans in early 2015. During this most recent epidemic, so far, about 5,000 people have died from Ebola.
“It’s an enormous step forward to address the challenges on the ground in West Africa,” said Vaxart CEO Wouter Latour. “We’d love to get the necessary resources for full-on services.”
U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier D-San Mateo, toured Vaxart Wednesday to see the company’s efforts to develop the oral Ebola vaccine. In 2012, Vaxart was working on a vaccine that showed improved signs of immunity in mice.
“They’re going to need government support,” she said. “The world is shrinking and it’s in the humanitarian’s best interest to make sure we address this.”
Having the vaccine come in oral form is advantageous because it doesn’t require needs for administration and, therefore, can be self-administered, Latour said. Additionally, tablet vaccines can be held at room temperature for more than a year thus reducing or even eliminating the need for cold storage, an advantage in distribution and administration of the vaccines in areas with limited infrastructure, he said. Vaxart’s vaccine candidate is designed to generate an immune response against the Ebola GP protein. The vaccine doesn’t contain any whole killed or weakened Ebola virus and therefore can’t cause an Ebola infection.
Although some want to enact travel restrictions from West Africa to the United States, Speier would like to see funding go to a vaccine to eradicate the virus. Vaxart will need $5 million to $10 million for the initial phase of trials and a significantly larger amount of money in the longer term, according to Latour.
Congress authorized giving the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention $30 million to fight Ebola, but this isn’t adequate funding, Speier said. Vaxart could be a potential receipt of future government funding, she said.
Vaxart’s lead product, currently in the second stage of Phase I clinical trials, is an oral seasonal influenza vaccine that is administered using tablets.
For more on Vaxart go to vaxart.com.
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