IVX-121 Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Vaccine

Costa Rica Issues RSV Alert For Children

Danielle Reiter RN — Mon, 07 Oct 2019 20:09:09 +0000

Reviewer:

The Ministry of Health in Costa Rica issued an alert due to the severity of the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) in young children.

On September 27, 2019, the Ministry of Health (MOH) issued a health alert related to RSV, with special emphasis on children under 1 year of age.

According to reporting by the Costa Rica Star on October 4, 2019, the MOH ‘urges parents to keep their children under 1 year of age at home, away from daycare and public gatherings, until the number of RSV cases decreases.’

Between May and September 2019, there were 10 children in Costa Rica under the age of 5 who died from RSV, announced the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica on October 4, 2019.

All of these children were either born prematurely or had other medical problems, such as cerebral palsy, heart, or lung disease.

According to the Pan American Health Organization’s weekly report on October 1, 2019, RSV is co-circulating with parainfluenza and adenovirus in Costa Rica, impacting a total of 42 people during 2019.

In addition, the Costa Rica MOH Alert says ‘considering that the National Children's Hospital has a saturation in its services, parents or guardians are requested to analyze the appropriate moment in which they should take their children to emergency services.’

The recommendation is to visit the medical centers ‘when the infant refuses the feeding, breathes with difficulty or with a frequency different from the normal one, present fever or the lips and nails turn bluish.’

Previously, Costa Rica has confronted similar RSV outbreaks, such as during 2017.

Virtually all children get an RSV infection by the time they are 2 years old, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Most of the time RSV will cause a mild, cold-like illness, but it can also cause severe illness such as:

Bronchiolitis
Pneumonia

Children who are hospitalized may require oxygen, intubation, and/or mechanical ventilation. Most improve with this type of supportive care and are discharged in a few days.

But the RSV infection leads to more than 57,000 hospitalizations a year of children age 5 or younger, according to the CDC. An additional 177,000 older adults are hospitalized annually with RSV infection, which kills about 17,000 of them, the CDC says.

The estimated hospitalization costs attributed to RSV in seniors exceed $1 billion dollars in the U.S. annually.

Recent RSV vaccine news

Currently, there is not a preventive vaccine or effective antiviral treatment available for RSV. But, there are various RSV vaccine candidates in late-stage studies.

It is important to indicate that the annual influenza vaccine does not protect against RSV, says the CDC.

From a health perspective, both Canada and the UK have issued advice for travelers regarding the Zika virus, recommending pregnant women and those considering becoming pregnant should avoid traveling to Costa Rica.

And, the CDC says visitors to Costa Rica ensure they are up-to-date on several Routine vaccines, including measles vaccination, and suggests travel vaccinations, such as Hepatitis A and Typhoid.

Furthermore, the government of Costa Rica requires proof of yellow fever vaccination if you are arriving from a country with a risk of the yellow fever virus. The Stamaril yellow fever vaccine is available in the USA.

Travel news published by Vax-Before-Travel.

Sub Title:

PAHO reports 42 RSV cases in Costa Rica during 2019

References:

Ministry of Health in Costa Rica Issues Alert due to Respiratory Syncytial Virus

U.S. Embassy issues health alert over respiratory illnesses in Costa Rica

GOV.UK: Foreign travel advice Costa Rica

Government of Canada: Costa Rica

PAHO: 2019 Weekly Influenza Report EW 38

CDC: RSV in Infants and Young Children

US Embassy: Health Alert –U.S. Embassy San Jose

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health, vaccines, vaccinations, rsv in costa rica, rsv vaccines, infants and rsv

$51 Million Dollars Raised For RSV Vaccine Development

Don Hackett — Thu, 03 Oct 2019 19:13:45 +0000

Reviewer:

Robert Carlson, MD

Danielle Reiter, RN

A Seattle based company announced $51 million dollar financing for advancing the company’s first vaccine candidate, IVX-121.

The IVX-121 vaccine is targeted for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) in older adults through Phase 1b clinical studies.

This is good news since there is no vaccine available today to prevent an RSV infection.

IVX-121 incorporates a stabilized prefusion F antigen licensed from the NIAID/NIH. Extensive preclinical studies suggest that IVX-121 could increase the protective immunogenicity of RSV F compared to the DS-Cav1 antigen alone, said the company.

Adam Simpson, Chief Executive Officer of Icosavax, said in a October 3, 2019, press release, “This support allowed us to assemble a world-class team and to help translate the scientific insights from IPD into IVX-121, our lead candidate for RSV and the application of our Virus-Like Particles (VLP) technology to a whole class of vaccine targets with significant unmet medical needs.”

VLPs enable high-density, multivalent display of antigens in a manner that closely resembles viruses, with an important difference. VLPs contain no genetic material, so they are non-infectious and can provide a safer alternative to live-attenuated or inactivated vaccines.

Naturally occurring VLPs have delivered successful vaccines, including Gardasil, Cervarix, Engerix-B, and Recombivax HB.

However, VLPs have been difficult to use for the display of complex heterologous antigens, like in the case of RSV.

VLPs are known to induce superior immunological responses compared to traditional soluble antigens, eliciting protective immune responses while reducing the need for strong adjuvants, which in some instances have been associated with side effects.

“Icosavax’s vaccine technology solves the problem of constructing and manufacturing VLPs displaying complex antigens by utilizing computationally designed proteins that separate the folding of individual protein subunits from the assembly of the final macromolecular structure,” said Icosavax co-founder Neil King, Ph.D.

“The individual proteins are expressed and purified using traditional recombinant technologies, and then self-assemble into VLPs when mixed together.”

Icosavax’s in-licensed computationally designed VLP technology is a product of the IPD’s Translational Investigator Program, which enables entrepreneurial researchers to turn their first working versions of designed proteins into commercially viable assets.

The license to this technology was negotiated with CoMotion at the University of Washington, UW’s collaborative innovation hub.

Recent RSV vaccine news

Symptoms of RSV infection typically resemble those of a cold. But the infection leads to more than 57,000 hospitalizations a year of children age 5 or younger, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

An additional 177,000 older adults are hospitalized annually with RSV infection, which kills about 17,000 of them, the CDC says.

Icosavax was founded on breakthrough computationally designed virus-like particle technology, exclusively licensed for a variety of infectious disease indications from the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington.

For more information, please visit Icosavax.

RSV Vaccine information published by Precision Vaccinations

Sub Title:

Icosavax IVX-121 RSV vaccine candidate incorporates a stabilized prefusion F antigen

References:

Icosavax Launches with $51 Million Series A Financing to Advance Computationally Designed VLP Vaccines

A proof of concept for structure-based vaccine design targeting RSV in humans

CDC: Protect Against Respiratory Syncytial Virus

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