Benzinga | Mar 24, 2021 10:26AM EDT

Hoth Therapeutics' Partner Voltron Therapeutics Reports Encouraging Preclinical Data From COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate

Hoth Therapeutics Inc's (NASDAQ: HOTH) development partner, Voltron Therapeutics Inc has announced positive data from its second set of preclinical animal testing of HaloVax Self-Assembling Vaccine (SAV) against COVID-19.

* The study investigated an updated construct to identify the best balance of immune responses to prevent the infection.

* The vaccine is built on a base of a heat shock protein (HSP70)-Avidin fusion protein that activates the immune system's cellular component.

* The second portion of the vaccine consists of peptides derived from an understanding of the COVID-19 virus, bound to the heat shock protein via its Avidin component and Biotin added to each string of virus targeting peptides.

* Results demonstrated that the self-assembling vaccine construct did increase both helper and cytotoxic T cell responses to the vaccine-targeted antigens compared to controls. Yesterday, Hoth's lead peptide candidate for COVID-19 showed promising antiviral activities in animal studies.

* Price Action: HOTH shares are down 11.6% at $2.22 during market trading on the last check Wednesday.