Development of a Vaccine for the Prevention of Pulmonary Aspergillosis

Project Summary The principal objective of this project is to develop a VesiVaxvaccine against Aspergillus fumigatusThe studies proposed in this SBIR Phase II application will be focused on continuing the development of a lead candidate VesiVaxvaccine containing recombinantly engineered antigens corresponding to Aspfand AspfIn the SBIR Phase I studieswe evaluated VesiVaxvaccine candidates in a clinically relevant animal model for the ability to protect against a pulmonary Aspergillus challengeFrom the SBIR Phase I studiesthe most effective VesiVaxvaccine candidate was identified and selected for advancement to clinical evaluation and development of a commercial productIn the proposed SBIR Phase II studiesour product development and commercialization efforts will be focused on using the VesiVaxvaccine to prevent or ameliorate disease in the primary patient populationimmunocompromised hosts such as those individuals undergoing a solid organ transplantbone marrow transplant or cancer chemotherapyIn these patientsthe opportunity exists to immunize the patient prior to the onset of immunosuppressionwith the goal that the acquired resistance from the vaccine can carry over through the course of the immunosuppressionthus reducing patient mortality and infection with Aspergillus