“We are very pleased with these results, and to see ARCT-154 providing protection against symptomatic COVID-19 and almost complete protection against severe disease in a placebo-controlled vaccine efficacy study. This represents a key milestone for the Company and provides significant clinical validation of our STARR™ platform. We believe self-amplifying mRNA combined with our LUNAR® delivery technology will create a path to better mRNA medicines,” said Joseph Payne, President and CEO of Arcturus Therapeutics. “We are grateful to our collaborator Vinbiocare and to Vietstar, a leading CRO in Vietnam, for their extraordinary effort and efficiency in the sponsorship and analysis of this trial. We are also thankful to the study participants, investigators and clinical trial sites for their invaluable contributions to the study.”
The ongoing Phase 1/2/3 registrational study, sponsored by Arcturus’ collaborator Vinbiocare Biotechnology Joint Stock Company (“Vinbiocare”), a member of Vingroup Joint Stock Company, enrolled over 19,000 adult subjects in Vietnam, including individuals at higher risk of severe complications of COVID-19 disease. Results from the efficacy analysis of the study have been submitted to the Vietnam Ministry of Health by Vinbiocare on April 13, 2022 and shared with Arcturus in parallel with this filing. This additional efficacy data complements the data package under review by the Vietnam Ministry of Health for potential Emergency Use Authorization of ARCT-154. The Phase 3 placebo-controlled vaccine efficacy portion of this study enrolled over 16,000 participants. Evaluation of vaccine efficacy demonstrated that the study met its primary endpoint of prevention of virologically confirmed COVID-19 disease. Data provided by Vinbiocare show that, in an analysis of COVID-19 cases accrued between 7 days and 56 days after completion of a two-dose vaccination series, two 5-mcg doses of ARCT-154 demonstrated 55% vaccine efficacy for protection against COVID-19. The cases of COVID-19 disease in the study participants were detected in parallel with a SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in Vietnam in December 2021 to February 2022 where characterized SARS-CoV-2 variants Delta and Omicron have dominated*.
The key secondary endpoint of severe COVID-19 disease (including COVID-19 related deaths) was analyzed and included 43 severe cases in the analysis. Forty-one cases occurred in the placebo group and 2 occurred in the ARCT-154 vaccinated group, demonstrating point estimate of vaccine efficacy of 95% against severe (including fatal) COVID-19 disease. Nine COVID-19 related deaths were reported in the placebo group and 1 in the ARCT-154 vaccinated group. The single death in the ARCT-154 vaccination arm occurred in an older age group participant who was also at increased risk of severe COVID-19.
|
COVID-19 Cases |
Vaccine Efficacy for 2-dose (5 mcg/dose) ARCT-154 |
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|
Severe (including fatal) COVID-19 cases |
95.3% (95% CI; 80.4% - 98.9%) |
|
|
Overall COVID-19 cases |
55.0% (95% CI; 46.9% - 61.9%) |
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Table: Vaccine efficacy data provided by Vinbiocare and submitted to Vietnam Ministry of Health |
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The analysis performed by Vinbiocare included a review of the available safety data from over 17,000 participants enrolled in the Phase 1, 2 and 3 portions of the study through one month after second dose of ARCT-154. An independent Data Safety Monitoring Board has performed ongoing review of the safety data and has agreed with the continuation of the study without modification. The safety data show:
- The incidence of unsolicited adverse events in the ARCT-154 group and placebo group are comparable. No cases of myocarditis or pericarditis have been reported; however, the study is not large enough to reliably observe these events given their extremely rare frequency of occurrence.
- Adverse events collected in diaries of study participants (solicited adverse events) for seven days following each vaccination with ARCT-154 demonstrate that the majority of these events were mild or moderate in severity. In general, the frequency and severity of solicited adverse events did not increase with second dose administration. The majority of solicited adverse events resolved within the 7-day window of observation.
Additional data provided by Vinbiocare show that the study also met the immunogenicity primary endpoint, with 98.4% 4-fold seroconversion for ancestral (Wuhan) strain, measured by surrogate virus neuralization test (sVNT) 28 days after the second dose of ARCT-154. This analysis was conducted in the first approximately 1,000 participants enrolled in the Phase 1/2/3 study and was provided earlier by Vinbiocare to the Vietnam Ministry of Health as part of the filing for EUA. More comprehensive immunogenicity, efficacy and safety data from the study will be disclosed in a publication.
Arcturus has advanced ARCT-154 (5 mcg) toward a pivotal booster study which will involve approximately 2,400 participants. A clinical research organization to conduct the trial has been engaged and the Company has received constructive feedback from several regulatory agencies, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA), regarding the trial design.
IR and Media Contacts: Arcturus Therapeutics
