Clinical-stage biotechnology company Vaxxas has announced the publication of research it says demonstrates the potential of its novel high-density microarray patch (HD-MAP) for vaccination against COVID-19.
The company said using a novel SARS-CoV-2 spike subunit vaccine, this preclinical study of its HD-MAP showed enhancement of immune response compared to vaccination by needle-and-syringe, including significantly enhanced T-cell and spike-specific antibody responses as compared to needle-and-syringe delivery.
"Notably, complete protection from COVID-19 by a single dose skin patch delivery using HD-MAP was shown in a lethal virus challenge in a relevant COVID-19 animal model," said the company, adding, "Comparable protection against COVID-19 was not seen with the same vaccine when delivered by needle-and-syringe, even when the spike subunit vaccine formulation included appropriate adjuvantation.
The research underlying the study was co-funded by Vaxxas and the Queensland Government and was performed in collaboration with researchers at the University of Queensland and Griffith University and led by principal investigator, David A. Muller, PhD, of the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences at the University of Queensland.
“We designed this research to address the serious ongoing need to improve the global vaccination efforts against COVID-19 and future pandemics. Based on our results, we believe that Vaxxas’ HD-MAP could offer a compelling solution that importantly could use less vaccine and potentially could be readily distributed without refrigeration for self-administration,” said Dr Muller. “This combination could make the HD-MAP extremely well suited to support the massive need for global population vaccination and, indeed, we believe that HD-MAP offers a superior alternative to conventional needle-and-syringe.”
“We are extremely excited about these compelling early results showing the potential of Vaxxas’ proprietary HD-MAP vaccination platform to deliver safe and effective vaccines against COVID-19,” said David L. Hoey, president and CEO of Vaxxas.
"We believe that having a single-dose vaccine that could be easily distributed and self-administered would greatly improve global pandemic vaccination capabilities. We would like to thank and recognize our incredible research collaborators at the University of Queensland and Griffith University and the support of co-funders within the Queensland Government for their vital parts in bringing us to these important findings.”
