Arcturus COVID-19 Vaccine to Benefit from Duke-NUS Genetic Correlation System

SAN DIEGO, March 27, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Arcturus Therapeutics (the “Company”, NASDAQ: ARCT), a leading messenger RNA medicines and vaccines company, today provided details about the Company’s strategy to rapidly learn about the safety and efficacy profile of its COVID-19 vaccine using Duke-NUS’ genetic correlation system.

Duke-NUS, the Company’s partner, developed a process to track genetic changes and their correlations that augment testing of vaccines. There are specific gene changes that correlate directly with efficacy, particularly the level of neutralizing antibody titers. There are also specific gene changes that correlate with safety-related adverse events, such as headache and fever. Prior studies have shown these changes correlate with longer term outcomes. These gene expression changes can be measured within the first 5 days following vaccination and the data may also guide dose selection.

“The data generated from the Duke-NUS system gives us the ability to more efficiently select the dose and help streamline our vaccine development program, potentially accelerating our timeline,” said Pad Chivukula, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Arcturus.

Arcturus’ COVID-19 vaccine, LUNAR-COV19, is based on its STARR™ and LUNAR® technologies. For more information, please contact Arcturus by email at [email protected] or visit our website www.ArcturusRx.com