Calder’s RSV vaccine is locked in the correct, natural shape, and has several-fold higher potency, an improved shelf life, and lower cost of goods by comparison to other such programs in development. We estimate this to be a $5B+ market opportunity.
Each year, RSV infects 4-5 million children in the US, and is the leading cause of infant hospitalizations (120,000). In addition, it poses a serious threat to the elderly, where it results in an additional 180,000 hospitalizations and 12,000 deaths annually, in the US alone. There are currently no frontline treatments for RSV and no vaccines or therapeutics are approved.
Calder’s approach is to engineer a stable and potent vaccine by applying it 3D-Vaxlock® technology in order to lock the RSV F surface protein in its most natural shape. It has previously been shown that this protein when it is only partially-stabilized in its natural shape is much more potent and better protective than when it loses that shape without stabilization.
Sources: www.cdc.gov/rsv/high-risk/index.html; GlobalData, July 2019 (GDHC094POA); Coherent Market Insights, April 2020 (CMI1127); Calder Research
