This Year’s Superbug Norovirus Sickens Hundreds of Millions, Prompting Urgent Race for Vaccine

This Year’s Superbug Norovirus Sickens Hundreds of Millions, Prompting Urgent Race for Vaccine

April 17, 2017
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

One of the most hated short-term illnesses, which has been carving a swath of destruction through U.S. households this year is the norovirus, a gastrointestinal bug that has shut down schools and families across the country. My family knows all too well from personal experience this norovirus season.

Perhaps Wotour Latour, chief executive officer of South San Francisco-based Vaxart summed it up best when he told me last year that anytime someone comes down with the norovirus it is a memorable experience. It’s still unforgettable for me and my family. Latour is certainly correct. It’s hard to forget the extreme discomfort and exhaustion associated with the norovirus: nausea, diarrhea, dehydration and cramping (for my family, all the symptoms were simultaneous!). In short, the norovirus is a witch’s brew of bad health news that can wrack individuals young and old.

In January, after making national headlines for shutting down a high school in St. Charles, Ill., a town about 15 miles from where I live, the norovirus struck my family. It started with my young children, then two days later hit me and lastly my wife. It was a miserable time for each of us. The worst part is the only remedy is to ride out the virus and let it run its course.

The current strain of norovirus making headlines across the country is being called a superbug due to how contagious the virus is. Dr. Richard Besser, chief health editor for ABC news, called it the “Ferrari” of viruses in a Jan. 25 report.

For many people, a bout of the stomach is a retching two days of misery and then a relatively quick recovery. But it is in fact a very deadly bug. The norovirus sickens about 700 million people annually, causes 219,000 deaths each year and has an estimated $64 billion economic impact, mostly through productivity losses. In the United States, the norovirus causes 19 to 21 million cases of acute gastroenteritis and contributes to about 56,000 to 71,000 hospitalizations and 570 to 800 deaths, mostly among young children and the elderly, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Currently there are no approved vaccines for the virus.

Which brings us back to Vaxart. The company is currently conducting a Phase I clinical trial of Vaxart’s VP1 protein-based norovirus oral tablet vaccine, studying the safety and immunogenicity in 66 adult volunteers. The first patients were dosed over the summer and Latour expects interim data from the trial to be available in the first half of 2017–too late for my family this year, but, if trial results are positive, perhaps the vaccine will be available several years from now in case (and Lord, I hope not) my family and I get this again.

Vaxart is not the only company working on a vaccine for the norovirus. Japan-based Takeda Pharmaceuticals also has a vaccine in the clinic, although this one is an injectable. In June 2016, Takeda initiated the first test of its norovirus vaccine TAK-214–a Phase IIb study that will evaluate the efficacy of intramuscular administration of Takeda’s norovirus vaccine candidate against moderate or severe acute gastroenteritis (AGE) due to norovirus. The Takeda vaccine candidate uses virus-like particle (VLP) antigens, which are proteins that precisely mimic the outer surface of norovirus.

While Takeda’s vaccine is ahead of Vaxart’s, one thing that the Bay Area-company has over its rival is that it’s an oral treatment. That certainly is advantageous when it comes to transporting the vaccine to remote areas where there is not ample refrigeration to hold an injectable. Another advantage is the drug does not require someone with medical training to deliver it.

Perhaps another advantage, and as of now only time and testing will tell, the norovirus does not change as rapidly as the flu virus. Latour said the norovirus evolves, but about once every five years. That means the formula for the vaccine will not have to change annually, which could lead to some strains of the virus being overlooked.

After going through a miserable experience with the norovirus, the sooner one of these vaccines is available, there will be one less reason to dread the cold and flu season.

Alex Keown, a regular writer for BioSpace, is a full-time freelance writer and editor specializing in biopharma, feature writing and local government reporting. When not writing for clients, he is working on a collection of short fiction, co-developing a tabletop RPG, reading and trying to fix the slice in his golf game.

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