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The US Army will begin testing among adult volunteers a Covid-19 vaccine developed by the Army that, according to the researchers, can protect against a variety of variants of the coronavirus.
Army doctors plan to begin testing the protein-based vaccine on Tuesday with up to 72 adults aged 18 to 55 at the Walter Reed Army Research Institute in Silver Spring, Maryland, the institute said. The team will test whether the vaccine safely induces the desired immune response in the study subjects.
The initial results of the study may be available in mid-summer. If the data is positive, the Army will likely try to join a pharmaceutical company to test and develop the vaccine, said Kayvon Modjarrad, director of the institute’s emerging infectious disease branch.
The experimental photo is among dozens in development, many aimed at improving the available photos. About 229 human vaccine trials are underway, according to BioCentury, which is monitoring the efforts.
Next-generation Covid-19 vaccines may play a role in vaccinations if they are differentiated from the current crop, say infectious disease experts and industry analysts. Vaccines that trigger a different type of immune response, or that have a different route of administration, such as a nasal spray or liquid formulation that can be swallowed, may be useful as primary vaccines outside the U.S. or as booster vaccines in the U.S.
Developing vaccines can be particularly useful as booster doses in people who have previously received Covid-19 vaccines that contain a harmless type of virus known as adenovirus, such as Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca PLC, because these people can develop immunity to adenovirus from one way that could decrease the effectiveness of a booster injection based on technology.
Army researchers say his vaccine was protective in studies of monkeys who were exposed to the coronavirus.
And laboratory tests suggest that the vaccine may be protective against newer and more transmissible variants of the virus, including those first identified in the UK and South Africa, Modjarrad said.
“This vaccine can be a good vaccine in terms of covering all different types of strains,” he said.
If successful in testing, the vaccine can also be used as a booster injection in people who have already received one of the now authorized vaccines, to boost immunity against the variants, he said.
The vaccine can be used in the general population, not just among the military, he said.
Vaccines currently authorized in the USA – from Pfizer Inc. with partner BioNTech SE; Moderna Inc .; and J & J – appear to retain some effectiveness against the latest virus variants.
However, the J&J vaccine was less effective in the South African part of a large study, where this variant circulated widely, than in other countries where the study was conducted. And the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines had a reduced neutralizing effect against the strain in laboratory tests using blood samples from vaccinated people compared to their effects on the original viral strain.
Scientists at the Army research institute developed their vaccine by coupling a copy of the spike protein found on the surface of the coronavirus to another protein known as ferritin, normally found in human blood and containing iron.
Ferritin proteins form a multifaceted spherical structure that resembles the coronavirus. This, in turn, is designed to trigger an immune response that can help ward off the real virus, if a vaccinated person is exposed later.
The vaccine also contains an ingredient called an adjuvant, designed to boost immune responses.
Army scientists plan to use a similar project to develop a vaccine that can protect not only against Covid-19, but also against other coronaviruses, said Modjarrad.
Some study volunteers will receive one dose of the Army’s vaccine and others will receive two doses administered four weeks apart. The researchers will assess immune responses from blood samples taken about two weeks after the second dose or six weeks after the single dose.
Write to Peter Loftus at [email protected]
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