Months after filing for bankruptcy, VBI Vaccines is taking the next step in shuttering operations with the voluntary withdrawal of its hepatitis B vaccine, PreHevbrio.
The company alerted healthcare providers and the FDA that it would be looking to pull PreHevbrio last month. When it originally detailed plans to file for Chapter 15 bankruptcy in the U.S. in July, VBI had been looking to initiate a sale and investment solicitation process for its assets.
Now, the company is requesting “immediate destruction” of all remaining PreHevbrio vials. The three-antigen vaccine is VBI’s sole FDA-approved product and originally hit the U.S. market in 2021. At the time, CEO Jeff Baxter said he expected to be launching into “a very hot market for the next several years."
Throughout 2023, though, the product pulled in just $3.1 million in sales.
Last year, the company moved to slim down its internal workforce by 30% to 35% to cut down on operating expenses. At that time, VBI focused its mission on developing a “functional cure regimen” for chronic hepatitis B by zeroing in on its immunotherapeutic candidate VBI-2601.
Earlier this year, VBI-2601 went to Brii Biosciences in an IP and manufacturing deal worth up to $33 million. That deal came after VBI had burned through a large portion of its cash in 2023.
Aside from its hepatitis programs, the drugmaker’s pipeline once included programs in cytomegalovirus, COVID-19, zika and other coronaviruses plus early-stage programs for glioblastoma and other CMV+ tumors.