FluGen said that it has received an $11.4 million grant from the United States Department of Defense for a Phase 1b study to evaluate the ability of its M2SR intranasal flu vaccine to protect against a variety of flu strains, including those like H3N2 that are mismatched to current vaccines. In February 2019, FluGen announced that a Phase 2 trial of the M2SR vaccine had demonstrated protection against a multi-season mismatched H3N2 strain. The new study, which is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2022, is expected to enroll 300 adults 65 years of age and older.
FluGen President and CEO Paul Radspinner commented, “We are extremely pleased to have been awarded funding from the Department of Defense to conduct this important study and further evaluate the ability of M2SR to address virus drift in a highly vulnerable patient population. FluGen is committed to ensuring older adults are protected from the flu virus, and particularly drifted strains, and the current standard of care has not been shown to be widely effective in protecting this population from virus drift, particularly against H3N2. We believe M2SR has the potential to be a more effective vaccine option in older adults, as it induces a broad antibody response, including mucosal, humoral, and cellular immunity, even in the presence of pre-existing immunity to the flu. This represents a critical advancement in flu protection, and we look forward to initiating our study in the second quarter of 2022 and demonstrating the potential seroconversion and seroprotection benefits of our investigational flu vaccine particularly against drifted strains.”
Read the FluGen press release.
