Novavax Presents RSV F Protein Nanoparticle Vaccine Clinical Data at the 8th Vaccine & ISV Congress in Philadelphia on Sunday, October 26

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Oct. 26, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Novavax, Inc. (Nasdaq:NVAX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of recombinant nanoparticle vaccines and adjuvants, announced today that Gregory Glenn, M.D., SVP, Research and Development is presenting new immunogenicity data from Novavax' RSV F-Protein Nanoparticle vaccine candidate (RSV F vaccine) clinical trials at the 8^th Vaccine & ISV Congress in Philadelphia, PA.

Dr. Glenn's presentation titled: Immunogenicity of the RSV nanoparticle vaccine in humans and the induction of palivizumab competing antibodies, highlights new data from the company's first Phase 2 clinical trial in 330 women of childbearing age. In all participants (including placebo recipients), sera were evaluated using Western Blot for evidence of new infection at day 0, 56 and 115. All vaccinations were complete by day 56 and from day 56 to 112, subjects passed through what approximates an RSV season, December to March. During this period, 20% of the placebo recipients had evidence of a new RSV infection compared to only 10% of the immunized participants, representing a 50% reduction in infection rates. Prevention of RSV infection in women of childbearing age suggests that the vaccine, which is expected to provide benefit to newborns, pediatrics and elderly, could also benefit pregnant women. The potential to protect pregnant women from RSV infection would be consistent with recommendations to vaccinate pregnant women against seasonal influenza and provide additional benefit to a maternal immunization program.

"Prevention of infection is a high bar relative to preventing respiratory disease. The data presented today suggest that our RSV F vaccine reduced the incidence of RSV infection by 50%. These findings are in line with preclinical cotton rat studies showing that the RSV F vaccine was effective in preventing both lung disease and nasal infection in challenge studies, which were recently published in the Journal Vaccine," said Gregory Glenn, M.D., SVP, Research and Development at Novavax. "These new clinical data, along with the cotton rat model, continue to build our confidence in the potential efficacy of our vaccine and our plan to initiate three RSV clinical trials, for maternal immunization, pediatrics and the elderly in the third and fourth quarter of this year."