CureVac announces dosing of first participant in Phase 2 study of influenza

CureVac (CVAC) announced dosing of the first participant in a Phase 2 study of the multivalent seasonal influenza vaccine candidate developed in collaboration with GSK (GSK). The study will assess targeted optimizations for improved immune responses of the vaccine candidate against the relevant influenza B strain. This new Phase 2 study in the joint CureVac/GSK seasonal influenza program has been initiated following interim data from the Phase 2 part of the ongoing combined Phase 1/2 study in seasonal influenza reported on April 4, 2024 . The reported data showed that among younger and older adults, serum hemagglutinin inhibition geometric mean titers elicited by the vaccine candidate against influenza A strains numerically exceeded those of the applied licensed comparator vaccines consistently across all tested dose levels. For influenza B strains, serum HAI geometric mean titers were lower than those elicited by the licensed comparator vaccines across tested age groups and dose levels. For the now initiated Phase 2 study, the design of the multivalent vaccine candidate has been changed to address all three World Health Organization-recommended influenza strains, following its recommendation from February 2024 to exclude the influenza B/Yamagata lineage and apply a trivalent vaccine format going forward. The three remaining influenza strains include two influenza A strains and one influenza B strain.