Press release
Arcturus Therapeutics Announces First Quarter 2020 Financial Results and Provides a Corporate Update
Important progress advancing COVID-19 STARR™ mRNA vaccine candidate (LUNAR-COV19);New preclinical data demonstrate robust immunogenicity with a single, low
About this update from Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"Important progress advancing COVID-19 STARR™ mRNA vaccine candidate (LUNAR-COV19);New preclinical data demonstrate robust immunogenicity with a single, low dose\n Company remains on track to begin clinical trial for COVID-19 vaccine this summer Successfully raised net of $75.5 million in secondary common stock offering;Current resources sufficient to support operations for more than two years Investor Conference Call at 4:30 p.m. ET Today SAN DIEGO, May 07, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. (the “Company”, “Arcturus”, Nasdaq: ARCT), a leading clinical-stage messenger RNA medicines company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of therapeutics for vaccines and rare diseases, today announced its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2020, and provided a corporate update. “This has been a highly productive period for Arcturus highlighted by the rapid advancement of our COVID-19 vaccine program. We are encouraged by the robust immunogenicity observed in preclinical studies with a very low dose, single administration of LUNAR-COV19. The single, low dose is made possible because of our efficient, proprietary self-replicating mRNA-based approach,” said Joseph Payne, President & CEO of Arcturus. “We are very pleased to have recently entered into a manufacturing partnership with Catalent, a leading producer of complex biologics, and expect to have the capacity to produce hundreds of millions of doses of LUNAR-COV19. Our immediate priority and focus are to initiate clinical trials this summer.” COVID-19 STARR™ mRNA vaccine candidate (LUNAR-COV19) updateArcturus today provided new preclinical immunogenicity data from its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, extending previously disclosed neutralizing antibody seroconversion results (demonstrating 100% seroconversion at single 2 µg dose, day 19). In the study, rodents were immunized with either a single dose (0.2, 2, and 10 µg, intramuscular) of self-replicating STARR™ mRNA (LUNAR-COV19), or conventional mRNA, both formulated in LUNAR® delivery technology. The results at day 30 demonstrated that the LUNAR-COV19 vaccine generated a robust antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 spike protein at all doses, even at 1:2000 dilution. The antibody data also showed that the Company’s proprietary self-replicating mRNA approach resulted in superior immunoge...