A new nasal COVID-19 vaccine is ready for clinical trials, said K. Anand Kumar, managing director of Indian Immunologicals and one of the co-authors of a new report on the vaccine. Called CDO-7N-1, it “induces robust mucosal and systemic neutralizing antibody and T-cell subset responses, in mice, hamsters, and macaques triggered by a single immunization,” according to a team led by researchers at Griffith University.
The group’s report was published in Nature Communications and the first author is Xiang Liu, of the School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, Griffith University.
“Unlike the mRNA vaccine which targets only the spike protein, CDO-7N-1 induces immunity to all major SARS-CoV-2 proteins and is highly effective against all major variants to date,” Liu said.
Suresh Mahalingam from Griffith’s Institute for Biomedicine and Glycomics has been working on this research for the past four years. He says it is set to be a game-changer, including for needle-phobic people.
“This is a live attenuated intranasal vaccine, called CDO-7N-1, designed to be administered intranasally, thereby inducing potential mucosal immunity as well as systemic immunity with just a single dose,” Mahalingam said.
“The vaccine induces strong memory responses in the nasal mucosa offering long-term protection for up to a year or more. It’s been designed to be administered as single dose, ideally as a booster vaccine, as a safe alternative to needles with no adverse reactions in the short or long term.”
Live-attenuated vaccines comprise the entire virus thereby providing broad immunity, in contrast to a single antigen which is used in many other vaccine platforms. They induce potent and long-lived humoral and cellular immunity, often with just a single dose.
Liu said the vaccine provides cross-protection against all variants of concern, and has neutralizing capacity against SARS-CoV-1. “The vaccine offers potent protection against transmission, prevents reinfection, and the spread of the virus, while also reducing the generation of new variants,” Liu added.
“Importantly, the vaccine remains stable at 4°C for seven months, making it ideal for low- and middle-income countries.”
The vaccine has been licensed to Indian Immunologicals. Kumar said, “We have completed all the necessary studies of this novel COVID-19 vaccine which offers tremendous advantages over other vaccines. We now look forward to taking the vaccine candidate to clinical trials.”
Lee Smith, acting director of the Institute for Biomedicine and Glycomics, said he was delighted with the research findings. “These results towards developing a next-generation COVID-19 vaccine are truly exciting. Our researchers are dedicated to providing innovative and, crucially, more accessible solutions to combat this high-impact disease.”
