Global healthcare player Altesa BioSciences is set to reveal groundbreaking data on its investigational antiviral, vapendavir, and its newly identified active metabolites at the 39th International Conference on Antiviral Research (ICAR2026), running April 27–May 1.

 

The company’s oral presentation, “Vapendavir, a Rhinovirus Capsid Inhibitor, Exhibits Activity Against Type C Rhinoviruses,” will be delivered by Katherine Squires, Altesa Vice President for Research and Translational Science. The findings are the first to document vapendavir’s activity against rhinovirus C, previously believed resistant to capsid inhibitors, in both preclinical and clinical settings.

 

Vapendavir is an oral, potent, broad-spectrum antiviral active against rhinoviruses and related respiratory enteroviruses. Altesa will showcase new in silico, in vitro, and clinical data demonstrating that both vapendavir and its major metabolite, designated as a New Chemical Entity (ALT-001), directly target all three major rhinovirus species: RV-A, RV-B, and RV-C.

 

Altesa is moving vapendavir forward through the Phase 2B Cardinal Study, a multinational, randomized, placebo-controlled trial in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) experiencing rhinovirus infections. 

 

The study will enroll 900 participants across the US and UK, measuring respiratory symptom improvement with established patient-reported outcomes, alongside endpoints for symptom resolution, quality of life, healthcare resource use, and lung function.

 

“We are honored to present our novel data at ICAR, the premier international conference for antiviral research,” said Dr. Brett Giroir, Altesa CEO and former US Assistant Secretary for Health and FDA Commissioner (acting). 

 

“In addition to advancing our fundamental understanding of the clinical pharmacology of vapendavir, these new findings strongly support the expansion of vapendavir potential indications to new patient groups, new diseases, and new treatment paradigms including prophylaxis.”