Dutch intranasal vaccine developer and CDMO Intravacc said that it has received an award of up to $14.6 million from the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to support development of an intranasal vaccine against gonorrhea and another award of up to $4.8 million from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to support development of an intranasal vaccine against betacoronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2.
According to Intravacc, the NIAID grant will go toward development of a GMP manufacturing process for the NGoXIM intranasal gonorrhea vaccine and production of clinical trial materials for a Phase 1 trial of the vaccine. NGoXIM includes sustained-release recombinant human IL-12 microspheres that will be developed and manufactured by Therapyx in addition to gonococcal outer membrane vesicles (OMVs).
Intravacc CEO Jan Groen commented, “Together with our sub-contractor Therapyx, we are honored that NIH and NIAID have awarded us this contract, allowing both of us to demonstrate the safety and tolerability of our intranasal gonorrhea vaccine candidate, NGoXIM (Avacc 11).”
The company said that the CEPI funding will go towards preclinical development of the intranasal betacoronavirus vaccine (Avacc 101). That vaccine, which is also based on the company’s OMV platform, is intended to protect against a wide range of betacoronaviruses that have caused human outbreaks, including SARS SARS-CoV-1, SAR-CoV-2, and MERS-CoV, as well as betacoronaviruses that may emerge in the future. At the beginning of 2022, Intravacc and Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) announced plans for a Phase 1/2 trial of LUMC’s Nanovac intranasal vaccine against coronaviruses.
Groen said, “This is the real beginning of a new era for intranasal vaccines. Teaming up with CEPI is a big step forward: from ‘best alone’, to ‘better together’ In this way, we can leverage Intravacc’s OMV platform for the vaccine the world so desperately needs.”
CEPI CEO Richard Hatchett commented, “The latest waves of Omicron subvariants in the US, UK, Europe and elsewhere show that SARS-CoV-2 still poses a serious threat to a still fragile global recovery. To secure the gains we’ve made, we must continue to develop vaccines that provide broad protection against these variants to mitigate the need for regular variant boosters, and which can also provide protection against other, more lethal, coronavirus threats including MERS-CoV. Investing in, initiating the development of, and enabling equitable access to broadly protective coronavirus vaccines should be an integral part of the world’s long-term strategy out of the COVID-19 pandemic and defense against future threats.”
Read the Intravacc press release on the NAIAD funding.
Read the Intravacc press release on the CEPI funding.
