Altimmune, Inc. a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the Company’s Investigational New Drug (IND) application for its Phase 1 clinical trial of AdCOVID, a novel, single-dose, intranasal COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Altimmune expects to commence patient enrollment in the Phase 1 clinical trial in the coming week.
“We believe deployment of intranasal vaccines like AdCOVID will be essential to a successful global response to the pandemic,” said Vipin K. Garg, President and Chief Executive Officer of Altimmune. “FDA clearance of the IND marks an important step in developing a safe and effective vaccine designed to stimulate mucosal as well as systemic immunity following intranasal administration. Developing vaccines that can effectively prevent transmission is a growing imperative to block the spread of disease and combat the emergence of new variants. We look forward to the data from this trial in the coming weeks.”
The Phase 1 clinical trial will evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of AdCOVID in up to 180 healthy adult volunteers between the ages of 18 and 55. Volunteers will receive AdCOVID at one of three dose levels administered as a nasal spray. In addition to the primary study endpoint of safety and tolerability, the immunogenicity of AdCOVID will be evaluated by serum IgG binding and neutralizing antibody titers, mucosal IgA antibody from nasal samples, and T cell responses.