Description
Vaxart, Inc. is an American biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of oral recombinant vaccines administered using temperature-stable tablets that can be stored and shipped without refrigeration, eliminating the need for needle injection. Its development programs for oral vaccine delivery (called VAAST) include prophylactic, enteric-coated tablet vaccines for inhibiting norovirus, seasonal influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, and human papillomavirus.
Vaxart has a collaborative development program for oral delivery of a vaccine against universal flu using proprietary antigens from Janssen Pharmaceutica (Janssen Vaccines and Prevention B.V.).
Technology
The Vaxart technology is based on the potential to prevent or inhibit infectious diseases by using orally-delivered vaccines by tablets, eliminating intramuscular injection concerns which may involve pain, cross-contamination, dosing inconsistencies, and higher cost for large-scale immunizations. As a proof of concept for oral vaccination efficacy, an oral vaccine against polio was proved to be safe and effective, and is in common use in many countries.
Vaxart uses enteric-coated tablets to protect the active vaccine from acidic degradation in the stomach, delivering the vaccine into the small intestine where it can engage the immune system to stimulate systemic and mucosal immune responses against a virus.
Vaxart uses a specific virus called adenovirus type 5 (Ad5) as a delivery biological "vector" to carry genes coding for the antigen to generate a protective immune response. The Ad5 vector delivers the antigen to the epithelial cells lining the mucosa of the small intestine where it stimulates the immune system to respond against the vaccine antigen, creating a systemic immune response against a virus.
