Candidate: IVX-411

Category: VAX

Type: Virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine consisting of a self-assembling protein nanoparticle designed to display 60 copies of the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) glycoprotein receptor-binding domain (RBD) in a highly immunogenic array. The vaccine was developed by scientists at the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine using structure-based vaccine design techniques invented at the Institute for Protein Design (IPD) at UW Medicine.

Status: Icosavax said October 30 said it had launched its COVID-19 vaccine program. UW researchers and their collaboration partners published preclinical data in the journal Cell showing that IVX-411 induced high neutralizing antibody titers in mice after a single administration and further improvement after a second administration. Titers after the second administration were ten-fold higher than those seen with the soluble SARS-CoV-2 spike protein on which several other vaccine candidates are based. The data also showed a strong B-cell response after immunization, critical for immune memory and a durable vaccine effect, with antibodies that target multiple distinct epitopes on the RBD, suggesting potential protection from escape mutations, Icosavax said.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has provided a $10 million grant designed to support the company’s COVID-19 vaccine program through the first-in-human Phase I clinical trial in young and older adults, expected to begin in mid-2021. Icosavax has also received $6.5 million from Open Philanthropy to support development of the company’s vaccine platform technology and COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

The company said it was advancing the studies needed to support regulatory filings, and has initiated GMP manufacturing. Amgen has agreed to manufacture a key intermediate for initial clinical studies, with the goal of enabling rapid progress of Icosavax’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate into the clinic.


COVID-19: 300 Candidates and Counting

To navigate through the >300 potential therapeutic and vaccine options for COVID-19, GEN has grouped the candidates into four broad categories based on their developmental and (where applicable) clinical progress:

FRONT RUNNER – the most promising therapeutics/vaccines based on clinical progress, favorable data or both.

DEFINITELY MAYBE – earlier phases with promising partners, or more advanced candidates in development that have generated uneven data.

KEEPING AN EYE ON… – interesting technology, attracting notable partners, or both, but preliminary data.

TOO SOON TO TELL – longshots pending additional experimental and/or clinical data.

GEN has also tagged the most common treatment types:

● ANTIVIRAL
● VAX
● ANTIBODY
● RNA

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