Merck's Vaxneuvance lead departs to help develop rival vaccine at Affinivax

Kara Bickham, M.D., has left Merck to take up the chief medical officer role at Affinivax. The appointment gives the person who led clinical development of Merck’s pneumococcal conjugate vaccine Vaxneuvance a starring role in a push to bring a rival jab to market.

Merck hired Bickham in 2014. Over the following years, Bickham won a series of promotions, culminating in the title of executive director, vaccines clinical research and responsibility for clinical trials of 15-valent pneumococcal conjugate jab Vaxneuvance. With the FDA approving Vaxneuvance, a rival to Pfizer’s Prevnar 13, last month, Bickham has left Merck to take up a position at Affinivax.

Bickham will now oversee development of a 24-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine that could go on to challenge Vaxneuvance and Prevnar for a blockbuster market. Affinivax recently presented data from a phase 2 trial that compared its Astellas-partnered vaccine to Pfizer’s Prevnar 13 and successor Pneumovax 23. The data caught the eye of Bickham.

“I have carefully watched the advancement of the novel MAPS technology and am very impressed with the recent clinical data presented on Affinivax’s 24-valent pneumococcal vaccine,” Bickham said in a statement.

The MAPS technology referred to by Bickham is a multiple antigen presenting system that uses a novel approach to the binding of polysaccharides to proteins. Affinivax sees the approach as a simpler way to develop and produce vaccines and expects it to provide broader immune protection than traditional systems.

Bickham arrives at Affinivax as it gears up for a key test of the system. With phase 2 data in hand, Affinivax and Astellas are now preparing to take the 24-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine ASP3772 into registrational clinical trials. The rest of Affinivax’s vaccine candidates, some of which are covered by a research collaboration with Astellas, are yet to reach the clinic.

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/merck-s-vaxneuvance-lead-departs-to-help-develop-rival-vaccine

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