Cancer Vaccine Breaking News

Vaccitech plc today announced the dosing of the first patient in the PCA001 multi-center, Phase 1/2 clinical trial designed to determine the recommended Phase 2 regimen and evaluate the safety, efficacy, as measured by prostate-specific antigen (PSA) response, and T cell response of VTP-850 monotherapy in men with rising PSA after definitive local therapy for their cancer disease.

VTP-850 is a next-generation prostate cancer immunotherapeutic candidate which utilizes Vaccitech’s sequential dosing approach of two proprietary nonreplicating viral vectors, ChAdOx and MVA. 

“VTP-850 encodes four prostate cancer antigens and is designed to induce a broader T cell response to tumor cells,” said Dr. Meg Marshall, Chief Medical Officer of Vaccitech, in a press release on June 12, 2023.

“When the immune system targets multiple molecules on tumor cells, it is generally harder for tumor cells to escape destruction by the immune system.”

In the U.S., about 13% of men will get prostate cancer during their lifetime.

The Florida Department of Health in Orange County (DOH-Orange) alerted residents on June 6, 2023, of an increase in mosquito-borne disease activity in areas of Orange County, and the risk of transmission to humans has increased.

Several sentinel chickens from a single flock tested positive for Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus (EEE) infection.

According to the U.S. CDC, only a few cases of EEE are reported in the United States each year.

Approximately 30% of people with EEE die, and many survivors have ongoing neurologic problems.

There are no vaccines to prevent or medicines to treat EEE. 

Orange County Mosquito Control and DOH-Orange continue surveillance and prevention efforts.

As of the 2020 census, Orange County's population was 1,429,908, making it Florida's fifth most populous county. 

The Department continues to conduct statewide surveillance for mosquito-borne illnesses, including West Nile virus infections, Eastern equine encephalitis, St. Louis encephalitis, malaria, chikungunya and dengue.

Furthermore, Miami-Dade County has been on alert for these diseases in 2023.

The World Health Organization (WHO) today published its External Situation Report #24 regarding the multi-country outbreak of mpox. In the last two weeks, there have been around 275 new mpox cases each week.

The mpox vaccination status of these individuals was not disclosed.

As of June 10, 2023, the WHO confirmed the updated epidemic curves suggest that the mpox outbreak that began in May 2022 continues with low levels of transmission in the European and Americas Regions, have slightly decreased in the Western Pacific, and increased cases in South-East Asia.

In the African Region, where mpox transmission is more continuous, an increase in the number of cases for the most recent weeks was observed. 

Other key epidemiological findings include, but are not limited to, the following:

As of early June 2023, 96.2% of mpox cases with available data are men, with a median age of 34.

Among cases with information available, 84.1% have self-identified as gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men.

Of all reported modes of transmission since the start of the outbreak, skin and mucosal contact during sex has been the most reported (82%).

And cases where at least one symptom is reported, the most common symptom is any rash, reported in 80.6% of cases, followed by fever and systemic rash or genital rash.

The WHO wrote it is essential to note that mpox can affect anyone, and getting vaccinated (JYNNEOS®, MVA-BN), monitoring for symptoms, testing if you think you have mpox and openly discussing mpox with sexual partners are vital strategies to minimize risk.

Across the African Region, efforts continue to be intensified to reduce polio outbreaks, wrote the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). 

As of June 7, 2023, Africa's largest polio vaccination drive since 2020 was launched, aiming to reach more than 21 million children. 

Simutantioly, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) launched a campaign using the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) with children. The nOPV2 vaccine has been deployed over 620 million times since 2021.

There were 14 polio cases in the DRC in 2023, and 146 patients were confirmed in 2022.

The GPEI also posted a summary of new polioviruses this week:

• Afghanistan: one WPV1 case and five WPV1 positive environmental samples
• Pakistan: two WPV1-positive environmental samples
• Chad: two cVDPV2 cases
• DRC: five cVDPV2 cases
• Zambia: one cVDPV2 positive environmental sample

As of June 9, 2023, the U.S. CDC maintains it's Alert - Level 2, Practice Enhanced Precautions global polio travel alert.

The CDC says before any international travel, ensure you are up to date on your polio vaccines. Furthermore, the nOPV2 polio vaccine is not available in the U.S.

Filomeno Fortes, the Director of Portugal's Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, recently gave an interview on the importance of Takeda's QDENGA® vaccine against dengue, made available in Portugal in May 2023.

"The vaccine brings some innovation to the prevention of a disease that is considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of the ten global threats to world health," commented Fortes.

Initially authorized in Indonesia in August 2022, QDENGA had been authorized as of June 9, 2023, in Argentina, Brazil, Europe, and the U.K.

In the U.S., the FDA is considering the authorization of QDENGA.

Since most dengue cases in the U.S. are travel-related, additional QDENGA authorization should reduce the incidence of this disease.

About 4 billion people live in areas with a risk of dengue.

For example, the Florida Health Department recently reported three additional travel-associated dengue cases, which increases the 2023 total to 80 patients.

In 2022, 903 travel-associated and 68 locally-acquired dengue cases were reported in Florida.

Dengue viruses are spread to people through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito, says the U.S. CDC. Dengue is often a leading cause of illness in at-risk areas.

WestVac Biopharma and West China Medical Center, Sichuan University, today announced Coviccine® Trivalent XBB.1.5-Recombinant COVID-19 Trivalent (XBB.1.5+BA.5+Delta) Protein Vaccine (Sf9 cell) was authorized by relevant authorities in China.

As of June 8, 2023, this is the first COVID-19 vaccine in the world authorized against XBB descendent lineages of the beta coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. 

WestVac leveraged the rapid response of the insect cell expression platform in constructing the vector for Coviccine, which is of high purity and high quality for human use.

The subunit vaccine antigen is designed based on the structure of the targeting S-RBD and HR proteins of the COVID-19 subvariants XBB.1.5 and BA.5 and self-assembled into stable trimeric protein particles with squalene-based oil-in-water emulsion adjuvant added after purification and mixing.

This novel adjuvant significantly raises the titer of neutralizing antibodies, enabling the trimeric protein vaccine to induce a higher T-cell immune response.

Recent studies have shown that Coviccine induced a high titer of neutralizing antibodies against multiple subvariants.

Previously, the WHO Technical Advisory Group on COVID-19 Vaccine Composition advised on May 18, 2023, that new formulations of COVID-19 vaccines should aim to induce antibody responses that neutralize XBB descendent lineages.

As of the end of May 2023, the XBB family of variants accounted for about 90% of infections in China.

And in the U.S., over 90% of all variants are from the XBB family.

The U.S. CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published today indicates about 66% of mpox vaccine–eligible persons remained unvaccinated.

From May 2022–April 2023, a total of 748,329 first JYNNEOS® (MVA-BN) vaccine doses (of the two recommended) were administered in the United States.

During the initial months of the outbreak, lower vaccination coverage rates among racial and ethnic minority groups were reported.

Focusing on the racial and ethnic groups with more significant mpox vaccination shortfalls, prioritizing resources, and improving access to vaccination for these groups can reduce the overall shortfall in mpox vaccination while promoting health equity.

However, after the implementation of initiatives developed to expand access to mpox vaccination, coverage among racial and ethnic minority groups increased, stated the CDC on June 9, 2023.