Inhaled vaccine developer Ethris and CDMO Lonza have announced that Lonza will develop spray-dried formulations of Ethris mRNA-based vaccine candidates. Earlier this year, Ethris announced that it would receive $5 million from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) for development of spray-dried RNA vaccines for nasal delivery. The companies said that the first project will involve an intranasal mRNA vaccine against influenza.
Lonza’s Center of Excellence in Bend, OR, US will develop the formulations. That team has promoted its expertise in spray drying biologics for respiratory delivery and began offering spray drying of proteins for inhalation last year. Iconovo recently partnered with Lonza for development of a spray-dried biologic for intranasal delivery.
The formulations for Ethris will involve candidates based on Ethris’s stabilized non-immunogenic mRNA (SNIM RNA) and stabilized lipid nanoparticles (SNaP LNP) technologies. Ethris’s ETH47 intranasal mRNA therapy for the treatment of uncontrolled asthma is based on those same platforms.
Ethris CEO Carsten Rudolph commented, “Lonza’s support and leading expertise is an asset and provides unique support as we progress development of our mRNA vaccine technology under the CEPI grant. Together, I believe we are well positioned to create promising non-invasive mucosal vaccine candidates that could potentially transform how respiratory diseases are prevented globally.”
Lonza VP, Head of Commercial Development, Advanced Synthesis, Jan Vertommen said, “Spray drying represents a well-established technique that addresses solubility and other manufacturing and stability challenges. However, its application in the field of DNA- and RNA-based products represents a highly innovative approach, with another level of complexity introduced by the presence of LNPs. Combining the expertise of Lonza Bend site’s particle engineering team with the innovative SNIM RNA of Ethris, there is great potential to target unmet medical needs in the field of non-invasive vaccine delivery.”
Read the Ethris and Lonza press release
