Altimmune Takes Next Step With Its COVID-19 Intranasal Vaccine

Health and Healthcare

Published: November 10, 2020 12:18 pm

Last Updated: December 24, 2020 9:42 am

Altimmune Inc. (NASDAQ: ALT) stepped forward on Tuesday with its vaccine candidate for COVID-19. Specifically, the firm entered into a manufacturing agreement for the vaccine candidate.

The agreement is with Lonza for the manufacturing of AdCOVID, Altimmune’s next-generation, single-dose intranasal vaccine candidate for COVID-19. Lonza is a leading global biopharmaceutical manufacturing company with facilities in Europe, North America and South Asia.

AdCOVID is a COVID-19 vaccine candidate that has the potential to be administered via an intranasal spray. In addition to activating systemic immunity (neutralizing antibodies and T cell responses), AdCOVID stimulates a type of localized immunity called mucosal immunity, which can act to prevent both SARS-CoV-2 virus infection and transmission.

So far in preclinical studies, AdCOVID produced a 29-fold increase in mucosal IgA, well above the level associated with protection observed in several clinical studies from influenza.

Based on clinical experience with Altimmune’s vaccine platform technology, AdCOVID is expected to provide durable immunity of up to a year or more following a single dose and to have an excellent tolerability and stability profile.

Management noted that its agreement with Lonza expands on the current clinical and commercial manufacturing strategy for AdCOVID, aligning it with leaders in vaccine manufacturing and positioning Altimmune for commercial-readiness in 2021. The firm plans to commence a clinical study of AdCOVID in the fourth quarter, with a data readout from this study anticipated in the first quarter of 2021.

Altimmune stock traded up over 19% to $9.35 on Tuesday, in a 52-week range of $1.51 to $35.10. The consensus price target is $49.00.

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