The Travel Health Pipeline

Chickungunya disease - more than 7,000 cases in the US and Europe since 2014.¹

Chikungunya disease is a recognized medical threat for travelers. The mosquito vectors that carry CHIKV are present in more than 100 countries and territories visited by millions of US travelers each year, and mosquito distribution is increasing.¹

The vast majority of individuals infected with CHIKV experience up to 2 weeks of acute symptoms, including fever, fatigue, and severe and incapacitating joint pain. Many patients continue to have chronic symptoms, with severe and debilitating manifestations such as arthralgia, fatigue, and depression that can negatively affect individuals’ physical and mental quality of life for years. Existing preventative measures are insufficient and there are currently no effective treatments for chikungunya disease.¹

Emergent’s CHIKV VLP vaccine is the only VLP-based vaccine in clinical development for active immunization against chikungunya disease. VLP vaccines are highly immunogenic and use a technology with a demonstrated safety profile that has been established in humans for over 35 years across a number of indications, including hepatitis B and human papilloma virus prevention. The structure of CHIKV VLP is nearly indistinguishable from the wild-type virus, which allows the VLP to be presented to the immune system like a live virus without the risk of replication.¹

This combination of immunogenicity and tolerability makes the CHIKV VLP vaccine a potential option for use in a broad range of travelers.¹

Influenza—an often-overlooked concern for travelers

The burden of flu can vary widely and is determined by several factors, including the characteristics of circulating viruses, the timing of the season, how well the vaccine is matched to the predominant strain, and how many people got vaccinated. ²

Travelers may be at risk of flu depending on where they are going and when. It’s important to remind them that seasonal flu viruses are constantly circulating around the world. While seasonal flu activity in the northern hemisphere is highest during the cooler months from October to May, peak infections in the southern hemisphere occur between April and September. In the tropics, flu viruses circulate throughout the year.³

Current seasonal flu vaccines are designed to protect against the four influenza viruses that research indicates are most likely to spread and cause illness during the upcoming flu season. Flu viruses are constantly changing, so the vaccine composition is reviewed each year and updated as needed.⁴

The goal of the final Emergent universal influenza vaccine candidate is to provide broad protection against multiple, divergent, and constantly evolving influenza virus A and B strains, including both seasonal and pandemic threats. The structure-based design of these vaccine components drives immune responses towards broadly cross-reactive and highly conserved antibody-recognized epitopes on the HA protein. The current EBS-UFV-001 phase 1 study is designed to demonstrate safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of the influenza virus A components of the vaccine candidate with future studies planned to investigate additional components for full coverage against all influenza virus A and B strains.