Vaccines from nasal sprays could play an important role in the fight against COVID-19

A sig­nif­i­cant part in help­ing to stop the spread of major dis­eases such as COVID-19 can be devel­op­ing new and inno­v­a­tive deliv­ery meth­ods for vaccines.

While nee­dles and injec­tions are the most com­mon way of admin­is­ter­ing vac­ci­na­tion, the advan­tages and attrac­tion of nasal spray vac­cine for viral res­pi­ra­to­ry infec­tions are gain­ing prominence.

Dr Jan Groen, who has spent much of his pro­fes­sion­al life in health­care with a strong back­ground in vac­cine devel­op­ment, indi­cates that in COVID-19 (SARS-CoV­‑2) alter­na­tives to injec­tion for vac­cine deliv­ery could prove cru­cial in some pop­u­la­tions and cultures.

The use of a nasal spray

There is an array of ben­e­fits from use of nasal spray vac­cines, par­tic­u­lar­ly for res­pi­ra­to­ry viruses.

“The beau­ty of a nasal spray vac­cine is that it is used in the nose, where the virus repli­cates and that will low­er the risk of muta­tions. It is quick­ly induced, giv­ing local mucos­al immu­ni­ty, with fast pro­tec­tion after the first vac­ci­na­tion and it can also be mixed with all oth­er vac­cines on the market.”

- Dr. Jan Groen

With 35% of adults and up to 50% of chil­dren hav­ing a fear of nee­dles, nasal spray vac­cines are an appeal­ing alter­na­tive for large parts of the population.

It also means that those deliv­er­ing the vac­cine may need less train­ing than those admin­is­ter­ing it via an injec­tion. “It is a rel­a­tive­ly easy way to make this type of vac­cine avail­able for devel­op­ing nations because nee­dles are more com­pli­cat­ed and present the risks of infec­tion, while nasal sprays are easy to admin­is­ter.” he adds.

 It is a rel­a­tive­ly easy way to make this type of vac­cine avail­able for devel­op­ing nations because nee­dles are more com­pli­cat­ed and present the risks of infec­tion, while nasal sprays are easy to administer.

New research under way into nasal spray vaccines

At present, there are more than 250 COVID-19 vac­cines in devel­op­ment around the world, though only eight are nasal sprays and only one of those devel­oped in Europe, from Dutch devel­op­er Intravacc, has at this stage moved beyond pre-clin­i­cal tri­als and toward a phase I trial.

SARS-CoV­‑2 vac­cines that are cur­rent­ly approved are all based on intra­mus­cu­lar immu­ni­sa­tion, while the com­pa­ny’s approach uses its pro­pri­etary out­er mem­brane vesi­cle (OMV) vac­cine tech­nol­o­gy plat­form, which can be used for devel­op­ing both viral and bac­te­r­i­al vaccines.

The Avacc COVID-19 vac­cine is based on puri­fied and con­cen­trat­ed non-infec­tious, immune stim­u­la­to­ry vesi­cles from bac­te­ria that are linked to recom­bi­nant sta­bilised spike pro­tein of SARS-CoV­‑2 there­by cre­at­ing the Avacc vac­cine that will be admin­is­tered intranasal­ly. Avacc will be test­ed in a first in-human clin­i­cal study in Jan­u­ary 2022. These OMV vesi­cles can form the basis of new and evolved vac­cines for COVID-19 and many oth­er infec­tious dis­eases, or com­bi­na­tion vac­cines, for exam­ple for the devel­op­ment of a com­bined COVID-19-Flu vaccine.

Preclinical trials

The intranasal Avacc COVID-19 vac­cine can­di­date not only induce high mucos­al and sys­temic immune respons­es but are cheap to man­u­fac­ture in high quan­ti­ties and can be stored at 4°C for up to five years.

In case of a pan­dem­ic, syn­thet­ic or recom­bi­nant pep­tides and/or pro­teins derived from sequence analy­sis of the pathogen can be quick­ly pro­duced and cou­pled to the OMVs.

Dr Groen, who has been CEO since May 2020, says that from pre­clin­i­cal tri­als the ear­ly indi­ca­tions are that the vac­cine offers 100% pro­tec­tion against COVID-19 with no dam­age to the nose or lungs. The aim is for the nasal spray vac­cine to be avail­able by the end of 2022 with two dos­es admin­is­tered three weeks apart.

Childhood vaccines

The com­pa­ny has more than a cen­tu­ry of expe­ri­ence in vac­cine devel­op­ment with a high pro­por­tion of all child­hood vac­cines glob­al­ly cur­rent­ly con­tain­ing the company’s knowhow or technology.

Dr Groen also believes that a safe and easy-to-admin­is­ter nasal vac­cine with no side effects will help enhance uptake of COVID vac­cine, par­tic­u­lar­ly among those with nee­dle phobia.

He adds: “We are very pleased with this pre-clin­i­cal data of our rev­o­lu­tion­is­ing intranasal Avacc can­di­date vac­cine. This allows us to move quick­ly towards an in human com­bined phase I and II clin­i­cal trial.”

Intravacc is an upcom­ing con­tract devel­op­ment and man­u­fac­tur­ing organ­i­sa­tion for infec­tious dis­eases and ther­a­peu­tics. The com­pa­ny offers a wide range of exper­tise and is the bridge between your dis­cov­ery and the start of your phase I/II clin­i­cal tri­als in humans.