Edmonton- August 2024- Entos Pharmaceuticals and its partner, Aegis Life announced the first participant has been dosed in the phase 1/2 clinical trial evaluating Covigenix VAX-002 as a COVID-19 booster vaccine.

The phase 1/2 trial is sponsored by Entos and managed by Calian. The trial is being conducted at 12 sites in Canada including sites planned in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia. The phase 1 portion of the study is intended to determine the optimal dose of Covigenix VAX-002 for booster vaccination, with 50 participants. Furthermore, the phase 2 portion of the trial aims to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity response of the optimal dose, with 250 participants.

“We’re excited to announce the first patient dosed in the phase 1/2 trial of our COVID-19 DNA vaccine booster candidate,” said John Lewis, CEO, Entos Pharmaceuticals. “This milestone brings us closer to providing protection against the still-emerging SARS-CoV-2 omicron variants to people in North America, as well as developing countries in need of fridge-stable vaccines.”

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Covigenix VAX-002 is formulated using the Entos Fusogenix PLV delivery platform and plasmid DNA optimized to express key SARS-CoV-2 antigens to protect against the currently circulating omicron strains of SARS-CoV-2. The first patient was dosed at one of the Quebec sites, conducted by DIEX Recherche.

“COVID-19 will remain a public health issue, as evidenced in this summer’s surge of infections,” said Steve Chen, MD, CMO, Entos Pharmaceuticals. “Leveraging plasmid DNA cargo, Covigenix VAX-002 has the potential to offer a more durable alternative to what is currently available.”

“This phase 1/2 trial is important because it tests a new method of delivering protection against the virus that causes COVID-19,” said Jean-François Roussy, principal investigator at DIEX Recherche.

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