AuraVax Therapeutics announced that the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) has awarded the company a preclinical research contract to support evaluation of AuraVax’s NanoSTING-002 mucosal adjuvant with Codagenix’s intranasal live attenuated influenza virus (LAIV). In early 2021, AuraVax announced that it had licensed STING agonist technology from Massachusetts General Hospital and from the University of Houston.
According to its website, Codagenix is developing its CodaVax-H1N1 intranasal LAIV as a universal influenza vaccine. The BARDA contract will fund a study of an intranasal LAIV with NanoSTING-002 as an adjuvant against H5N1 avian flu and “other emerging type A influenzas of consequence,” the companies said. Codagenix has also previously received BARDA funding for development of its CoviLiv live attenuated intranasal vaccine against SARS-CoV-2.
AuraVax CEO Joseph Sullivan commented, “We are pleased to be selected for a contract with BARDA’s DRIVe. Respiratory viral infections remain a major challenge for the medical and agricultural communities. Each season, tens of thousands of individuals are hospitalized for clinical complications due to influenza. Improved vaccines that efficiently stimulate safe and effective responses from the ‘nose to the toes’ will alleviate this problem. I thank our collaborators BARDA and Codagenix as well as our partners the University of Houston and the Wellmen Center at the Massachusetts General Hospital for their support.”
Codagenix Chief Business Officer Jeffrey Fu said, “Most approved vaccines include immune boosting modulators, known as adjuvants, to help establish protective and durable responses. However, no safe and effective adjuvant exists for intranasal vaccines. We are delighted to partner with AuraVax to determine whether intranasal activation of the STING pathway can enhance immune protection from LAIV, help to overcome pre-existing immunity from prior type A-influenza exposures and support dose-sparring economies. These data will be used to advance pandemic influenza medical countermeasures that include coverage for H5N1.”
Read the Auravax Therapeutics press release.
