Among the most injectable Covid-19 vaccines and therapies, Meissa Vaccines stands out with its intranasal approach. The company argues that a more patient-friendly dosing regimen is not its only advantage. CEO Martin Moore said that manufacturing and storage are easier and more economical, and the global distribution of intranasal vaccines should be less complicated. Crucially, the way the Meissa vaccine works may also make it superior to injections in blocking the spread of the virus.
“We have some tools, but we don’t have transmission blocking tools,” Moore said of the authorized Covid-19 product area. “Until we do this, we will continue to catch up.”
A phase one study to test the Meissa vaccine is already underway, and data is expected to be reported later this year. But Meissa now has monkey research data, which the Redwood, California-based company says is an indicator of how its drugs work in humans.result Released Monday’s study showed that the protection provided by the single-dose vaccine against the new coronavirus is equivalent to the efficacy reported by monkeys evaluating the current licensed vaccine.
The candidate vaccine MV-014-212 has raised antibodies against the new coronavirus and two interesting variants. In addition to the antibodies circulating systemically, the data also show that the vaccine induces mucosal antibodies in the upper respiratory tract. Moore said this is important because the respiratory system is the main route of infection of the virus, and stopping the virus there is the key to stopping the spread. These data are scheduled to be announced on Thursday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Virology, which will be held in a virtual way.
Vaccinations induce antibodies in the blood, thereby preventing serious diseases and hospitalization. Moore said that to prevent transmission, higher levels of antibodies are required in the circulation to reach the mucosal surface of the nose—10 times higher than the antibodies needed to protect the lungs. Meissa’s goal is to achieve higher antibody levels by producing antibodies in the nose.
The Meissa vaccine candidate is an attenuated virus, which means it is a weakened form of live SARS-CoV-2. Moore said that live, attenuated viruses are a more traditional vaccination method that can result in vaccines that are durable and provide broad immunity. Unlike mRNA vaccines that produce spike proteins in a single shape, live attenuated vaccines use spike proteins that have a fully functional surface. This surface reveals more epitopes, that is, parts of the antigen recognized by the immune system. Meissa doesn’t know the exact mechanism of its vaccine’s potential for widespread immunity, but Moore said this may be due to the vaccine’s fully functional spike protein.
The challenge for any live attenuated vaccine is to strike a balance between weakening the virus to make it safe, but not weakening the virus so that it can no longer produce an effective immune response. Meissa uses synthetic biology technology to achieve these two goals. Moore said the virus has been genetically engineered to reduce or remove virulence genes, resulting in strains that do not cause infection. This method can weaken the virus and improve its ability to confer immunity.
“This really opens the window to make live attenuated strains more effective at their attenuation levels,” he said.
The Meissa technology AttenuBlock is based on Emory University’s research focused on the development of intranasal vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus for about 10 years. Meissa has advanced the RSV vaccine candidate to clinical testing. When the pandemic hit, the company used its technology to produce Covid vaccine candidates.
Moore said that the Meissa Covid vaccine must be stored frozen, but cannot be stored at the ultra-freezing temperature required for messenger RNA vaccines. The company is working on a refrigerated version. Meissa is also testing spray devices for its vaccine candidates.
The potential advantages of intranasal products have attracted a small number of companies to develop such vaccines or apply existing intranasal research to Covid-19. When the pandemic hit, Altimmune was already developing intranasal vaccines against anthrax and flu. The Gaithersburg, Maryland-based company used its technology to produce an intranasal Covid vaccine candidate.But the preliminary first stage data Released The end of last month showed that the vaccine did not produce an adequate immune response, causing the biotech company to stop work on the project.
The Altimmune respiratory Covid vaccine candidate is based on the company’s platform technology, which uses an adenovirus engineered to prevent replication. Moore said that adenovirus is not traditionally used in intranasal vaccines, and he believes that the failure of Altimmune’s clinical trials will not have any impact on the prospects of Meissa’s intranasal vaccine.
Another startup seeking intranasal Covid products is located in the Netherlands Leyden Labs, appeared in March with a capital of 40 million eurosThe company did not disclose many details about its research, except that it is developing a nasal spray designed to stop viruses in the respiratory tract. Leyden Labs’ goal is not to replace vaccines, but to supplement them with a faster-acting product to stop the virus from infecting individuals and prevent the person from spreading the disease.
Meissa was launched in 2019 by 30 million USD A round of financing. This cash is supporting the Covid vaccine research of this startup company. Moore said that Meissa is preparing to advance Covid vaccine candidates on its own, but the company can also seek partners who can accelerate its development. Moore said that the first phase of the study is recruiting about 130 people in the United States, and the second and third phases will be carried out in more places in the world where the disease is spread and diseased.
In other recent Covid-19 vaccine news…
FDA has officially acceptedIn the priority review, Pfizer and BioNTech’s applications seek to officially approve the application of their Covid vaccine candidate vaccines in people 16 years of age and older. The priority review will take about six months, and the target date will be set in January next year. But the decision may be made sooner because the regulator said that the review “is ongoing and is one of the agency’s highest priorities, and the agency intends to complete the review before the target date”.
Picture from Meissa Vaccine
