The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) has granted up to $453 million to Vaxart to revive its work on an oral Covid-19 vaccine, backing a technology that had seemingly stalled.
According to Vaxart, its new vaccine pill is “more potent” than a previous version. Last year, the California biotech appeared poised to give up on its Covid pill program, announcing that it would lay off staff and prioritize its norovirus program. That norovirus trial read out with mixed results, missing one of the primary endpoints later in 2023.
The funding will come in two pieces: about $65.7 million right now to start up the Phase 2b trial, and $387.2 million paid over the course of the trial. The first interim analysis is expected as early as the first quarter of 2025.
The company’s stock $VXRT surged late Thursday after the announcement, only to fall again on Friday.
Vaxart plans to enroll about 10,000 healthy adults in the US-based trial. The primary endpoint will be relative efficacy between Vaxart’s pill and another mRNA vaccine for the prevention of symptomatic disease.
James Cummings“Previous research showed that our earlier Covid-19 vaccine constructs triggered long-lasting immune responses and induced a cross-reactive immunogenic response against all tested SARS-CoV-2 variants,” Vaxart CMO James Cummings wrote in a statement.
The funding comes through BARDA’s Rapid Response Partnership Vehicle. BARDA funds work on biological research and defense, including some long-shot projects that might not otherwise receive investment. The US government has earmarked $5 billion for its Project NextGen initiative to develop more Covid-19 countermeasures.
“Vaccine delivery has relied primarily on injection for more than 150 years,” Vaxart CEO Steven Lo added in a statement. “We believe our oral pill vaccine platform can better meet societal needs not just for Covid-19, which is now in the endemic phase, but for other infectious diseases that present significant endemic and pandemic threats.”