CAMBRIDGE, Mass.– Vaxxas, a clinical-stage biotechnology company commercializing a novel high-density microarray patch (HD-MAP) vaccination platform, today announced that The University of Texas at Austin has granted Vaxxas an exclusive license to a next-generation SARS-CoV-2 spike subunit vaccine (HexaPro), for vaccination using a patch.
The license from UT Austin, along with a companion background technology license obtained by Vaxxas from the United States’ National Institutes of Health (NIH), enables Vaxxas to create the first needle-free, room-temperature stable COVID-19 vaccine patch to enter clinical studies.
HexaPro, a highly stabilized protein that is designed to mimic the structure of the spike protein on the surface of the coronavirus to train the human immune system to recognize and fight SARS-CoV-2 infection, is the most advanced spike protein from UT Austin’s world-renowned vaccine development team.
Preclinical research recently published in Science Advances demonstrated that HexaPro delivered using Vaxxas’ HD-MAP (HD-MAP/HexaPro) resulted in enhanced virus neutralizing antibody and T-cell responses against all variants of concern, including alpha, beta, gamma, delta, and omicron, when compared to needle and syringe vaccination with HexaPro.
“The compelling preclinical results published in Science Advances established the potential superiority of the HD-MAP/HexaPro COVID-19 vaccine compared to delivery using the traditional needle and syringe,” said David L. Hoey, President and CEO of Vaxxas. “We can now rapidly advance our clinical trials with our next-generation COVID-19 vaccine patch.” Vaxxas plans to complete a Phase 1 clinical study of its proprietary HexaPro/HD-MAP COVID-19 vaccine this year.
“The current pandemic has underscored the lifesaving potential of innovative technologies, and we think novel vaccination approaches clearly offer unique benefits. Vaxxas’ proprietary HD-MAP technology can enable cost-effective distribution without the need for extensive refrigeration, and our easy-to-use device offers the potential for self-administration,” Mr. Hoey said. “These attributes offer a truly scalable, distinct, and differentiated approach to greatly improve pandemic vaccination capabilities globally.”
“Just as the virus has changed and evolved, our vaccines need to keep up with the latest challenges, too, and a key challenge now is vaccinating the world,” said Dr. Jason S. McLellan, Professor of Molecular Biosciences and Robert A. Welch Chair in Chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin. “It’s exciting to see HexaPro on the cusp of entering clinical trials with a patch-based technology that could be a real game-changer for parts of the globe where access to vaccines has been limited so far.”
