And then late last year, as you all know, we made the strategic decision to invest in a dedicated facility at Lonza. And as you requested, the way we’re thinking about that dedicated facility is one that would be able to satisfy the global demand from the developed world for either VAX-24 or VAX-31 in both of the adult and infant indications. So we do really expect that one to really deliver for us to maximize the sort of opportunity that we think is at hand. And then to your question about VAX-24 versus VAX-31 going forward, I think it’s really an indication dependent conversation. So for us, we find ourselves in a position where both VAX-24 and VAX-31 have an opportunity to reach the market on the same timeline. So with the right VAX-31 data later this year, naturally, it would make sense for us to move to deliver the most broadly protective vaccine that we can and ideally that would be VAX-31.
If not, we know VAX-24, it looks really good as well and so we’ll see that data before anointing which one to advance. That said, in the infant market, we’re already well ahead with VAX-24. And so for us, we’re contemplating either or both of VAX-24 or VAX-31 in the infant indication, just because we know we can bring VAX-24 to market faster based on the path we’re on today. So it’s a little more nuanced in the infant indication because of that sequencing.
Louise Chen: Thank you.
Operator: Thank you. We’ll go next now to Joseph Stringer at Needham.
Joseph Stringer: Hi, thanks for taking our question. Just a couple of quick ones on the preclinical programs. You briefly mentioned those, but could you just give us a quick sense for which one you think could enter the clinic first? And in particular on Strep A, curious if you’d give us a quick outline of a competitive landscape there and what you think the commercial opportunity in that indication is?
Jim Wassil: Sure. Thanks, Joe. So, as we stated, we’ve three other pipeline projects, we’ve got Group A Strep periodontitis and Shigella, all three are moving forward in early-stage preclinical development. We haven’t guided to when they would go in the clinic. But yes, the one that I believe is most advanced at this point is the one that you mentioned, which is Group A Strep. The Group A Strep vaccine, I think has a very important role, I think it’s one of the most underappreciated diseases. There are over 500,000 deaths due to Group A Strep that occur every year due to rheumatic heart disease. But it’s a ubiquitous disease causing pharyngitis, mainly in school entry kids as well as young toddlers. If not treated aggressively with antibiotics, which means that there’s a significant amount of antibiotic prescriptions associated with this disease.
And also subsequently, you would expect growing levels of antimicrobial resistance have led to increasing importance of finding a vaccine to prevent against this. And there is recent economic studies that say that medical and indirect costs are around $5 billion a year. So a vaccine that can have some degree of efficacy, a reasonable amount of efficacy, could significantly have direct medical cost to offset. So I think you’ll see a commercial opportunity here in school entry kids, potentially toddlers. And then the one area I haven’t mentioned is there is high rates of invasive disease in older adults as well. So we could see a very similar type of recommendation, in fact, a little bit more because you’re immunizing school entry kids as well, that you see with the PCV.
So we’re really excited about this program.
Grant Pickering: And I think from a competitive standpoint, Joe, it’s not as active as certainly in the PCV space, as Jim — we comment on that.
Jim Wassil: Yes, there’s minimal activity. There is only a few academic centers and one pharma company that are currently looking at a Group A Strep vaccine. So minimal competitive environment as well.
Joseph Stringer: Great. Thank you for taking our questions.
Operator: Thank you. And ladies and gentlemen, it appears we have no further questions today. So, that will conclude today’s Vaxcyte fourth quarter and full-year 2023 earnings conference call. Please disconnect your line at this time and have a wonderful day. Thanks for joining, everyone.
