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GeoVax Retains CATO SMS to Manage Two Phase 2 COVID-19 Vaccine Clinical Trials
Comparative Trial Against Pfizer/BioNTech Vaccine Among Immunocompromised Patients Booster to Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna Vaccines Among Healthy Patients
About this update from Geovax Labs, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":" Comparative Trial Against Pfizer/BioNTech Vaccine Among Immunocompromised Patients Booster to Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna Vaccines Among Healthy Patients ATLANTA, GA, March 14, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire – GeoVax Labs, Inc. (Nasdaq: GOVX), a biotechnology company specializing in developing human vaccines and cancer immunotherapies, today announced the engagement of CATO SMS to manage GeoVax’s two ongoing Phase 2 clinical trials of its vaccine candidate, GEO-CM04S1, against SARS-CoV-2. GEO-CM04S1 is a synthetic, non-replicating modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) vaccine vector, developed as a double recombinant vectored vaccine to stimulate potent humoral and cellular immune responses against both the spike (S) and nucleocapsid (N) proteins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Upon immunization, the vaccine vector infects cells at the local injection site, leading to the expression of the SARS-CoV-2 antigens that are visible to the immune system. GeoVax believes GEO-CM04S1 will provide additional recognition elements to the immune system over a homologous boost from mRNA vaccines alone, such as those developed by Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech, which are directed only toward the S protein. The GEO-CM04S1 vaccine’s MVA backbone may also be more effective at inducing COVID-19 immunity since MVA is known to strongly induce T cell responses even in a background of immunosuppression. In addition, GEO-CM04S1 targeting of both S and N antigens may offer greater protection and durability against the significant sequence variation observed with the S antigen among variants of concern such as Omicron. GEO-CM04S1 for Immunocompromised Patients – GEO-CM04S1 is being studied in an ongoing Phase 2 clinical trial (NCT04977024) to evaluate its safety and immunogenicity, compared to the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA-based vaccine, in patients who have previously received either an allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant, an autologous hematopoietic cell transplant or chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy. GEO-CM04S1 is the only COVID-19 vaccine that includes both SARS-CoV-2 spike and nucleocapsid proteins to advance to a Phase 2 trial in cancer patients. Such vaccines tend to produce an immune response quickly – in less than 14 days – with only mild side effects. The trial is also the first to compare an investigational multi-antigenic COVID-19 vacci...