The University of Oxford has announced that it is recruiting subjects for a Phase I trial of a nasal spray version of its COVID-19 vaccine. The trial is expected to enroll 30 healthy adults aged 18–40 who will receive the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine intranasally, and researchers from the university’s Jenner Institute will follow the subjects for four months post dosing. The vaccine candidate that will be evaluated for nasal delivery is the same vaccine as the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine given by intramuscular injection.
Jenner Research Group Leader Sandy Douglas, the study’s chief investigator, commented, “Some immunologists believe that delivering the vaccine to the site of infection may achieve enhanced protection, especially against transmission, and mild disease. We hope this small safety-focused study will lay the foundation for future larger studies that are needed to test whether giving the vaccine this way does protect against coronavirus infection. There are a variety of people who will find an intranasal delivery system more appealing, which may mean vaccine uptake is higher in those groups. It might also have practical advantages – nasal sprays have been used successfully for other vaccines, for example the flu vaccine used in UK schools.”
Principal investigator Adrian Hill, Director the Jenner Institute, added, “This is an exciting new approach to administering a leading COVID-19 vaccine that could be very effective in preventing not just disease episodes but also asymptomatic infections, and thereby help reduce transmission in the population.”
Jenner Institute Lead Clinical Research Fellow Meera Madhavan said, “This study will help us to understand the safety of, and side-effects associated with, giving the Oxford/ AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine by nasal spray. It is an important first step towards increasing our range of options for curtailing the spread and impact of COVID-19 globally.”
Read the University of Oxford press release.
