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Altimmune and UAB Announce Publication of Compelling Pre-clinical Data for AdCOVID™ Intranasal COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate
Comprehensive analysis shows AdCOVID uniquely stimulates three key immune components: serum neutralizing antibody, T cell responses, and mucosal immunity in
About this update from Altimmune, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"Comprehensive analysis shows AdCOVID uniquely stimulates three key immune components: serum neutralizing antibody, T cell responses, and mucosal immunity in the respiratory tract\n Nasal mucosal immunity may be the critical factor in driving sterilizing immunity and preventing further spread of the virus by vaccinated individuals GAITHERSBURG, Md., Oct. 12, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Altimmune, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALT), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, today pre-published a comprehensive preclinical evaluation of its single-dose, intranasal COVID-19 vaccine candidate, AdCOVID, in a manuscript entitled, “Single-dose intranasal administration of AdCOVID elicits systemic and mucosal immunity against SARS-CoV-2 in mice.” The studies were conducted as part of Altimmune’s ongoing collaboration with the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and expand upon earlier preclinical data presented for the AdCOVID program. The manuscript is available on an online preprint server at: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.10.331348v1 AdCOVID is based on the Company’s adenovirus-based intranasal vaccine platform and expresses the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The RBD is essential for viral infection and the majority of neutralizing antibodies from people that have recovered from COVID-19 bind to the RBD, highlighting the importance of the RBD in controlling infection. AdCOVID is designed to offer significant advantages over other COVID-19 vaccine approaches, including intranasal administration, single-dose effectiveness, broad activation of the immune response, and the ability to ship and store the vaccine conveniently and inexpensively. Altimmune anticipates filing an IND with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and commencing a Phase 1 safety and immunogenicity trial of AdCOVID in the fourth quarter of 2020. Key Findings of the Study: In the BioRxiv.org publication, the authors present data demonstrating strong activation of all three arms of the adaptive immune system following a single intranasal dose of AdCOVID. These data, conducted in two strains of mice, show that AdCOVID stimulated strong immune responses including: Serum Neutralizing Immunity: AdCOVID elicited a median serum neutralization titer against wild-type SARS-CoV-2 virus of up to 1:563 one-month post-vaccination in a 50% focus reducti...