The US military has launched clinical trials for its ‘next generation’ COVID-19 vaccine designed to protect against the pandemic virus, its variants and other coronaviruses.
In early tests, the injection appears to cause high levels of antibodies that should block the older ‘wild-type’ coronavirus, three major variants, and even SARS-CoV-1, the similar pathogen that caused the 2002 SARS epidemic.
Developed by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), the shot could have the potential to prevent future viruses from causing pandemics, the scientists behind it hope.
The first clinical trial, starting this week, will test the shot on 72 health volunteers between the ages of 18 and 55.
US military scientists have initiated clinical trials in 72 participants for the coronavirus vaccine that elicited antibodies to multiple variants in early tests – and could even work broadly enough to prevent disease from future coronaviruses and their variants (file)
The three COVID-19 vaccines available under the Emergency Use License (EUA) in the US are highly effective against the form that spread like wildfire in 2020.
But the UK’s more contagious B117 variety is now dominant in the US, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials announced Wednesday.
Vaccines still protect against B117, but new threats have emerged.
Variants first identified in South Africa, Brazil, New York, California and India all have mutations, causing scientists to worry that the variants could evade antibodies activated by the vaccines.
So far, all three vaccines approved in the US – as well as AstraZeneca’s beleaguered shot – appear to have been weakened by, but still protective against, variants from South Africa and Brazil, which are of major concern.
And data released Wednesday suggests Moderna’s vaccine works against the California variety.
If Moderna’s vaccine can stop the variant, it’s likely that Pfizer can too, because the two injections use the same type of technology.
But all of these shots work by targeting the so-called ‘spike’ protein.
The spike protein protrudes from the surface of the virus and allows it to enter and infect human cells.
Current vaccines activate antibodies designed to stick to this peak, inactivating or at least attenuating the ability to bind to receptors on the surface of human cells.
But viruses are constantly mutating, and this area of the virus is particularly susceptible to development.
Vaccines can be updated to counteract these mutations, but that can mean an endless series of booster shots.
And viruses like SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, are more likely to make the jump from animals to humans, increasing the global risk of more pandemics.
Thus, the military is taking a different approach in hopes of dealing with the current pandemic, its evolution, and possibly future pandemic.
“ That’s why we need a vaccine like this: a vaccine that has the potential to broadly and proactively protect against multiple coronavirus types and strains, ” said Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad, director of the Emerging Infectious Diseases Branch (EIDB) at WRAIR , covering the COVID-19 vaccine research.
“Even before recent COVID-19 variants were identified, our team was concerned about the emergence of new coronaviruses in human populations, a threat that has gained momentum in recent years.”
Global disease experts have been on increased alert for years.
So ideally universal vaccines against whole pathogens could help prepare the world for almost any threat before it reaches pandemic proportions.
To do that, the technology used by the military – known as a ferritin nanoparticle vaccine platform – allows tiny harmless pieces of a virus or viruses to be attached to the circular surface of the vehicle and delivered into the body.
That vehicle is the ferritin nanoparticle, a small particle that contains iron. Most vaccines, such as those made by Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca, use a harmless virus as a carrier. MRNA shots such as those from Moderna and Pfizer provide a piece of genetic code for the coronavirus spike protein to teach the body to make this protein and antibodies against it.
But the military’s vaccine could lead to wider protection and, because it uses a simpler iron nanoparticle, it wouldn’t need to be stored at temperatures as cold as those needed for currently authorized shots.
And it could be developed much faster.
Early tests showed that the same military-developed vaccine caused high levels of neutralizing antibodies to the variants, as did the 2002 SARS virus.
Early research on these types of vaccines suggests that they elicit an equally, if not stronger, immune response compared to other vaccine platforms – and with fewer side effects.
Now it just has to prove its mettle in clinical trials.
“We are doing this for the long term,” said Dr. Modjarrad.
‘We designed and positioned this platform as the next generation vaccine, a vaccine that paves the way for a universal vaccine that provides protection not only against the current virus, but also against future variants, stopping them before producing a new one. pandemic. ‘