Cidara’s pursuit of universal flu protection with a single dose

What It Covers

Cidara Therapeutics CEO Jeff Stein discusses CD388, a single-dose antifungal-to-antiviral platform molecule targeting neuraminidase to deliver universal influenza protection across all strains, including for 50 million immunocompromised Americans who cannot respond to conventional vaccines.

Key Questions Answered

• •Universal flu protection gap: Over 50 million high-risk or immunocompromised Americans fail to mount adequate responses to flu vaccines, creating a population entirely unserved by current prevention tools. CD388 bypasses immune response requirements by functioning as a direct antiviral, not a vaccine.
• •Neuraminidase targeting strategy: CD388 targets a universally conserved active site on neuraminidase that remains identical across all influenza strains year after year. This eliminates the annual strain-guessing problem that caused vaccine mismatch during the most severe flu season in 17 years.
• •Phase 2b enrollment execution: Cidara fully enrolled a 5,000-subject Phase 2b trial within 10 weeks, running September through December 2024 with a 40-person team. The trial coincided with a historically severe flu season, increasing the statistical likelihood of generating meaningful efficacy data.
• •Reclaiming partnership rights: After J&J exited infectious disease in 2023, Cidara raised a $240 million PIPE financing to outcompete large pharma companies and reacquire full global rights to CD388 with zero royalty obligations, shifting from partner-dependent to fully independent development.