A biotech developing a synthetic biology Covid-19 vaccine comes up short in first data readout — and investors are fleeing

One of the biotechs betting on its vaccine platform proving useful in the long-term fight against Covid-19 reported a new batch of data Friday morning, and it’s not making many investors happy.

Seattle-based Icosavax said that one of its “virus-like particle” programs aiming to protect against SARS-CoV-2 came in “below expectations” in an interim Phase I/II analysis. The company says it plans to investigate why the results did not match what it had seen in preclinical studies.