RSV

Respiratory syncytial virus, known commonly by its acronym RSV, is a contagious respiratory virus that infects the breathing passages and lungs of all individuals.  RSV is typically associated with infants, as it is the most common cause of bronchiolitis, inflammation of the small airways of the lung, in children under one year of age in the United States.  Staggeringly, almost all children will be infected with RSV by their second birthday.  RSV, however, infects indiscriminately.  Otherwise healthy individuals suffer a prostrating illness, with symptoms undistinguishable from the common cold, and typically recover in one to two weeks.  While other populations, such as immunocompromised individuals, young children and the elderly, often contract severe infections, where morbidity and mortality frequently result.   

The need for an effective vaccine against RSV is unambiguous.  Estimates indicate that 2.1 million children under the age of five require medical attention annually for RSV infection.  Among these children, approximately 63,000 are hospitalized, 525,000 seek emergency department treatment, and 1.5 million visit pediatric practices.  Moreover, RSV’s major burden occurs among previously health children where severe illness cannot be predicted.  In the elderly population, epidemiological evidence indicates that the impact of RSV is 5 to 15%, which is equivalent to nonpandemic influenza, and results in high rates of pneumonia and approximately 10,000 deaths annually in the U.S.

LigoCyte is developing a vaccine for the prevention of RSV infection in humans.  LigoCyte’s program is based on the company’s unique virus-like-particle (VLP) technology that presents the RSV-F antigen, the protein that mediates cell entry, in its native form.  LigoCyte’s RSV-F VLP vaccine candidate has achieved neutralizing and protective responses in both mouse and cotton rat models of infection.     

INFLUENZA

Influenza, commonly known as “the flu,” is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae (the influenza viruses). Common symptoms of the disease are chills and fever, sore throat, muscle pain, severe headache and coughing. In more serious cases, influenza causes pneumonia, which can be fatal, particularly in young children and the elderly where it is associated with as many as 30,000 deaths per year in the United States despite the availability and widespread use of vaccines.

The most common human vaccine is the trivalent influenza vaccine that contains purified and inactivated material from three viral strains. Typically, this vaccine includes material from two influenza A virus subtypes and one influenza B virus strain. A vaccine formulated for one year may be ineffective in the following year, since the influenza virus changes rapidly over time, and different strains become dominant.

LigoCyte has developed a highly effective chimeric virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine against influenza. This VLP vaccine has characteristics that offer significant improvements over the currently available commercial products, including the potential to offer better protection against seasonal changes in the virus. Click Here to download a summary of LigoCyte’s influenza vaccine.