Clinical-stage Cidara Therapeutics, Inc. says its antiviral conjugate (AVC) platform can offer better protection against seasonal and pandemic influenza than vaccines and now has a co-development and licensing deal with Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. to advance its efforts. The San Diego biotech is developing AVCs for flu and other infectious diseases to broaden its business prospects beyond its Phase III antifungal rezafungin.
During a 5 April call to detail the agreement, Cidara CEO Jeffrey Stein stressed that AVCs – similar in concept to antibody-drug conjugates for cancer such as Seagen Inc. ’s Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin) – are neither vaccines nor monoclonal antibodies