Researchers commence trial of needle-free vaccine targeting new COVID-19 variants

A team of researchers has commenced the trial of a new needle-free COVID-19 vaccine that aims to protect against future variants of the virus.

The vaccine, developed by Professor Jonathan Heeney at the University of Cambridge and spin-out company, DIOSynVax, is said to be administered through a blast of air that delivers it into the skin. 

 The University of Cambridge quoted Prof. Heeney as saying: “The response of the scientific and medical communities to the development and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines has been incredible, but as new variants emerge and immunity begins to wane we need newer technologies. 

“It’s vital that we continue to develop new generation vaccine candidates ready to help keep us safe from the next virus threats.

“Our vaccine is innovative, both in terms of the way it primes the immune system to respond with a broader protective response to coronaviruses, and how it is delivered. Crucially, it is the first step towards a universal coronavirus vaccine we are developing, protecting us not just from COVID-19 variants but from future coronaviruses.”

The experts say while most COVID-19 vaccines use the sequence of the RNA for the virus spike protein from the first isolated samples of the COVID-19 virus in January 2020, this new DIOSvax technology uses predictive methods to encode antigens like the spike protein that mimic the wider family of coronavirus antigens, thus giving wider protection.

The body’s immune cells take up the vector, decode the DIOS-vaccine antigen and present the information to the immune system. This, in turn, produces neutralising antibodies, which block virus infection, and T-cells, which remove virus-infected cells. This technology is well-established and the vaccine plasmid DNA does not get taken up into human genetic material.

 Professor Heeney added: “DIOS-CoVax vaccines target elements of the virus structure that are common to all known ‘beta-coronaviruses’ – those coronaviruses that are the greatest disease threats to humans. These are structures that are vitally important to the virus life cycle, which means we can be confident that they are unlikely to change in the future.

“These next-generation DIOSvax vaccines should protect us against variants we’ve seen so far – alpha, beta, delta variants, for example – and hopefully future-proof us against emerging variants and potential coronavirus pandemics.”

Lara Adejoro

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Researchers commence trial of needle-free vaccine targeting new COVID-19 variants