Top industry updates for vaccine development
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, society became more invested in vaccines and their development. The immediate pressures pharmaceutical companies faced to produce a vaccine to tackle the virus that could be rolled out internationally in a timely manner. Consequently, the future of vaccine development looks much different now than it did pre-COVID-19.
In celebration of World Immunization Week, we are highlighting the latest industry developments and featured content on vaccine development.
Clinical trials have begun for the first needle-free vaccine patch treating seasonal influenza
In late 2022, Vaxess Technologies (MA, USA) announced it was conducting a Phase I clinical study for its needle-free inactivated seasonal influenza vaccine quadrivalent (IIV4) candidate. This study assessed the tolerability, immunogenicity and safety of the IIV4 candidate in a pool of 45 candidates, aged between 18–40 years, who hadn’t yet received an influenza vaccine within the previous 6 months and had no vaccines of any kind in the 30 days prior to the study.
They announced their interim results near the end of 2022; the patches were well tolerated, with no serious or severe adverse effects. The study also found that the rate of reported systemic events was much more favorable than needle and syringe vaccines. If the trial continues to demonstrate positive results, this could prompt a positive change in vaccine development as the patches are shelf-stable, have the potential for self-application and enable broader distribution at a lower cost.
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Pharmaceutical companies are hopeful that they can offer vaccines for cancer, Lyme disease and other conditions in the next 5 – 10 years
Paul Burton, the chief medical officer of Moderna (MA, USA), stated to The Guardian:
“I think we will have mRNA-based therapies for rare diseases that were previously undruggable, and I think that 10 years from now, we will be approaching a world where you truly can identify the genetic cause of a disease and, with relative simplicity, go and edit that out and repair it using mRNA-based technology.”
Learnings from the COVID-19 vaccine and its success in the past 2–3 years have now shaped how pharmaceutical companies approach mRNA research and development. Alongside accelerated timelines, researchers are hoping that vaccines that once took a decade or more to develop and produce may now be fast-tracked in the future. For example, Pfizer has announced that they are in the stages of its Phase III clinical trial for a Lyme disease vaccine, which they say could be submitted for FDA authorization as early as 2025. BioNTech has partnered with the UK government to push forward clinical trials for personalized cancer vaccines and aims to provide treatment to 10,000 patients by 2030.
Sources: www.theguardian.com/society/2023/apr/07/cancer-and-heart-disease-vaccines-ready-by-end-of-the-decade, www.pfizer.com/news/announcements/pfizer-and-valneva-issue-update-phase-3-clinical-trial-evaluating-lyme-disease, https://investors.biontech.de/news-releases/news-release-details/biontech-announces-strategic-partnership-uk-government-provide
To hear more about accelerating vaccine development timelines, make sure to check out our interview discussing the development of vaccine assays.
Moderna and Merck’s personalized mRNA cancer vaccine has shown promise against tackling melanoma
These two companies have collaborated to create a personalized vaccine for high-risk Stage III/IV melanoma patients, which has been shown to reduce a patient’s risk of recurrence or death when combined with an immunotherapy drug. This treatment utilizes mRNA technology, teaching the body to recognize and respond to 34 neoantigens found in cancer cells.
Previous treatment was only able to target individual neoantigens one at a time, however, Moderna’s technology can target all 34 concurrently. The research team is expected to begin the Phase III trial for the vaccine later this year.
To find out more about oncolytic therapeutics, make sure to check out our webinar exploring bioanalytical strategies for oncolytic virus therapeutics.
If you would like to explore more content focused on vaccines, click the link to find more content on Bioanalysis Zone
