Lead vac­cine from Vi­cal and Astel­las flops in a Phase II her­pes study

San Diego-based Vi­cal $VI­CL says that its lead vac­cine ASP0113 flopped in a Phase II study de­signed to thwart her­pes in kid­ney trans­plant pa­tients. The vac­cine, part­nered with Astel­las in a $135 mil­lion deal that dates back to 2011, was sup­posed to knock down the pro­por­tion of pa­tients hav­ing CMV in­fec­tions, or viremia. But it failed the pri­ma­ry as well as sec­ondary end­points in the tri­al.

Vi­cal’s shares dropped 18% in pre-mar­ket trad­ing this morn­ing.

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