On November 12, 2020 Vaxart, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing oral recombinant vaccines that are administered by tablet rather than by injection, reported financial results for the third quarter of 2020 and provided a corporate update, including updates on its oral COVID-19 vaccine pre-clinical studies and clinical trials (Press release, Aviragen Therapeutics, NOV 12, 2020, View Source [SID1234570785]).
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"To defeat the COVID-19 epidemic, we need not only effective vaccines, but effective vaccines that are easy to administer, store, and distribute. We need a practical global solution," said Andrei Floroiu, chief executive officer of Vaxart. "The strong pre-clinical data we generated and the clinical progress we have made strengthen our belief that our oral tablet COVID-19 vaccine will emerge as a global solution against the COVID-19 pandemic."
VXA-CoV2-1 is a single-dose COVID-19 tablet vaccine candidate that we believe can be conveniently distributed and administered without the need for cold-chain storage and distribution.
Unlike injectable vaccines, animal data indicate that VXA-CoV2-1 activates both systemic and mucosal immunity, a broader immune response that has the potential to offer superior protection against SARS-CoV-2. By leveraging over a decade’s worth of work building Vaxart’s platform technology, VXA-CoV2-1 is under investigation to assess its ability to provide durable immunity following a single dose with favorable tolerability.
Recent Business Highlights:
Pre-Clinical and Clinical Developments:
Completed enrollment in the Company’s Phase 1 study of VXA-CoV2-1, its oral tablet COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
Reported COVID-19 Hamster Challenge Study data showing protection against COVID-19 in hamsters receiving two oral doses of Vaxart’s oral vaccine. Animals were protected against systemic weight loss, lung weight gain, showed a 4-5 log reduction in lung viral load, and developed IgG titers above 10,000. Both oral and intranasal delivery of VXA-CoV2-1 (rAd-S-N) conferred similar protection against intranasal viral challenge on all these metrics.
Posted Preclinical studies of a recombinant adenoviral mucosal vaccine to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection to Biorxiv, which noted immunization with the vaccine candidate induced strong IgA response in the lungs of animals, indicative of a mucosal immune response.
Restarted its Norovirus vaccine program with a booster study in subjects that were primed in the previously conducted Phase 1b Norovirus trial.
Manufacturing:
Expanded collaboration with Kindred Biosciences for the manufacturing of our COVID-19 oral vaccine. Kindred’s California plant will be responsible for scaling the COVID-19 clinical trial material into mid-size bioreactors and the Kansas plant will be responsible for manufacturing at 2000L scale in its single use bioreactors.
Entered into a master services agreement with Attwill Vascular Technologies, LP for processing, lyophilizing, and tableting compounds for the Company’s oral COVID-19 vaccine.
Corporate Developments:
Addition to the Board of Directors: In August, Vaxart appointed Karen J. Wilson to its Board of Directors. Ms. Wilson is a biopharmaceutical finance executive and board member with more than 30 years of industry and leadership experience in life sciences companies with relevant knowledge in finance, strategy, and risk management. She is a certified public accountant and holds a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of California, Berkeley.
Financial Results for the Fiscal Period Ended September 30, 2020
Vaxart reported a net loss of $8.1 million for the third quarter of 2020 compared to $5.3 million for the third quarter of 2019. The increase was mainly due to an increase in operating expenses. Net loss per share for the third quarter was $0.08 in 2020 compared to $0.32 in 2019, in part due to an increase in the number of shares outstanding.
Vaxart ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $133.4 million compared to $44.4 million as of June 30, 2020. The increase was primarily due to net proceeds of $97.0 million for the issuance of common stock, partially offset by $9.3 million of cash used in operations.
Revenue for the third quarter was $265,000 compared to $454,000 in the third quarter of 2019. The decrease was principally due to a reduction in revenue from our contract with Janssen, for which activities were mostly completed between July 2019 and June 2020.
Research and development expenses were $4.6 million for the third quarter compared to $3.7 million for the third quarter of 2019. The increase was mainly due to manufacturing expenses related to the COVID-19 vaccine candidate and higher stock-based compensation costs, partially offset by reductions in the cost of clinical trials for our norovirus vaccine candidate and in personnel costs after we ceased internal manufacturing as part of our December 2019 restructuring.
General and administrative expenses were $4.2 million for the third quarter compared to $1.5 million for the third quarter of 2019. The increase was mainly due to higher legal fees and an increase in headcount, with higher stock-based compensation costs.