Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Grant Pickering: Yeah. Thanks for the question, Joy. Indeed, there is another 24-valent vaccine that has reported Phase 2 data in adults. It’s program that GSK is administering to in this moment. The difference is it’s — the defining aspect of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines is the covalent bond between the polysaccharide sugar and the protein. And that’s been critically important because it ensures that both the sugar and the protein are co-presented to the immune system simultaneously. And non-covalent approaches haven’t been able to assure that. So, this is a non-covalent bound approach that they’re moving forward. And what they’ve said in their own public filings is that they don’t expect to be able to launch that program until the back end of this decade.

So, it does put VAX-24 in a position to find its way to the market potentially significantly earlier than that particular program. And as it relates to first-mover advantages, usually that’s valuable unless the second or third to market have a material advantage. And when we look objectively about what we’re doing and the data we’ve generated, we feel like we’ve got the more tried and true approach. We think we’ve got an extremely compelling immunogenicity data and a safety profile that looks remarkably similar to the already approved pneumococcal conjugate vaccines. And the hallmark of these covalent bound PCVs is the ability to boost, because that protein carrier and its T-cell epitopes being presented to the immune system simultaneously are what deliver that key boost effect.

And that’s what is often lost when it’s not presented simultaneously is that ability to deliver a boost. And certainly, in the infant market, that’s the price of admission you have to be able to boost in a material way, and we think the adult market is in that direction also. So, we’re always vigilant about the competition. But we think we’re in an extremely enviable position in this moment as it relates to that particular program.

Joseph Stringer: Great. Thanks so much for taking our questions.

Grant Pickering: Yeah. Thanks Joy.

End of Q&A:

Operator: Thank you. This concludes today’s conference call. You may all disconnect. Everyone have a great day.

Grant Pickering: Thanks everybody.