MVX01
Pneumococcal Vaccine
Pneumococcal disease continues to be a major public health concern
Streptococcus pneumoniae is the primary bacterial cause of community-acquired pneumonia and meningitis, and a significant cause of otitis media, sinusitis, and bacteremia. Pneumococcal disease results in >1 million deaths worldwide annually, with a substantial proportion of fatalities among the elderly and immunocompromised, and in children populations <5 years old in Asian and African countries.
Pneumococcal disease vaccines are expensive to make and supply
Current vaccines for the prevention of S. pneumoniae infections are based on polysaccharide antigens of the bacterial cell capsule, either as multivalent polysaccharide preparations, or multivalent polysaccharide-protein conjugates. While effective, these vaccines are extremely expensive to develop, manufacture, test and distribute and have only been affordable to many low and middle income countries through the intervention of global health partnerships such as the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI).
Current vaccines cannot protect against all serotypes
Present-day vaccines cover up to 23 of the approximately 100 bacterial serotypes, but the emergence of disease-causing strains, not covered by the vaccines, continues to be a major public health concern. Adding valencies to existing vaccines is a substantial undertaking in terms of R&D costs and development time, driving the complexity and cost of the final vaccine ever upwards.
Mice immunized with PLY-DM and challenged with a lethal dose of S. pneumoniae serotype 6A
Mice immunized with MVX01 and challenged with a lethal dose of S. pneumoniae serotype 19F
Matrivax is developing MVX01, a pneumolysin-CbpA fusion protein that provides ‘serotype-independent’ protection against pneumococcal disease
MVX01 is a fusion protein of epitopes of two highly conserved proteins across S. pneumoniae serotypes: a genetically inactivated form of the virulence factor, pneumolysin (PLY-DM) and two choline binding protein A (CbpA) epitopes.
Our preclinical data have demonstrated, through immunization with the individual components of MVX01, for example PLY-DM, and the full MVX01 construct, that antibodies to both PLY and CbpA are protective on challenge with multiple pneumococcal serotypes in a murine model.
MVX01 has the potential to be an effective and low-cost option for vaccination against pneumococcal disease.
Matrivax is developing MVX01, a pneumolysin-fusion protein that provides ‘serotype-independent’ protection against pneumococcal disease