TFF Pharmaceuticals Inc. has announced promising preclinical data advancing a multivalent universal influenza vaccine manufactured by its Thin Film Freezing (TFF) technology to protect against seasonal and pandemic viruses.

Researchers from Thomas Jefferson University and the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) have published findings from preclinical studies of LASSARAB, a new rabies-based Lassa virus (LASV) vaccine candidate.

Immorna Biotherapeutics Inc. has received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support the clinical development of JCXH-108, a monovalent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine based on Immorna’s proprietary mRNA and ready-to-use (RTU)-lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technologies.

The efficacy of seasonal flu vaccines varies due to the ability of the influenza virus to mutate rapidly. The achievement of a universal flu vaccine conferring protection against all strains, including those with pandemic potential, for longer than a single season would provide a great benefit and has not yet been achieved.

Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp. is advancing development of its live attenuated virus vaccine, TNX-801 (recombinant horsepox virus), for preventing mpox and other infectious diseases.

Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. has announced its pandemic influenza vaccine is on track to enter a phase I clinical trial in Q4 of 2024. The vaccine, ARCT-2304, utilizes Arcturus’ STARR self-amplifying mRNA and LUNAR delivery platform technologies to deliver antigens designed to elicit a protective response against the H5N1 strain of avian influenza.

Anivive Lifesciences Inc., a One Health technology company, reported the NIH’S National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has awarded grant funding worth up to $33 million to the company to support the development of a vaccine against the fungus Coccidioides, which causes Valley Fever.

GSK plc and Flagship Pioneering Inc. have entered a collaboration to discover and develop a portfolio of therapeutics and vaccines for respiratory and immunology indications.

Last week, the 2024 meeting of the International AIDS Society (IAS) was wrapping up as the 2024 Olympic Games were about to begin. That timing was probably what prompted the use of multiple sports analogies at Thursday’s plenary session on HIV prevention strategies. Given the decades-long attempts at developing an HIV vaccine, Peter Piot, past IAS president and director emeritus and professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said in his introduction: “This is clearly a marathon. But marathons also finish.”