Unmet Need
· In response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, a variety of vaccines have been rapidly developed to prevent serious illness or death from infection by SARS-CoV-2. The gold standard are mRNA vaccines which deliver mRNA to make copies of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, which ultimately activates immunes cells to produce antibodies against the real protein. However, these vaccines are not always as effective against variants of the virus. Therefore, there is a need for a vaccine that can target a wider variety of SARS viruses to prevent infection from variants.
Value Proposition
· A Vaccine that targets the most conserved and functionally important regions of the SARS virus
· Able to target many different subtypes of SARS viruses and stockpile for future Coronavirus pandemics
· Capable of inducing a T cell response that can work synergistically with an antibody inducing vaccine
· Can be delivered by numerous vehicles commonly used to deliver vaccines (MVA, Adenovirus, long synthetic peptides, BCG, and plasmid DNA)
Technology Description
· Researchers at Johns Hopkins have developed a vaccine sequence for a variety of SARS type viruses (mainly BetaCoronavirus, those that cause the deadliest form of infection). It is a genomic sequence of internal crucial viral proteins that are the most conserved and functionally important regions of the SARS virus. The vaccine targets these proteins as vulnerable parts of the virus and is capable of inducing T cell responses to them. This means that if a new mutation in SARS-CoV-2 alters the effectiveness of an antibody-based vaccine, the conserved T cell approach may protect from a resurgence of the virus.
Stage of Development
· We have shown that this first, to our knowledge, pure T cell vaccine can protect against SARS-CoV-2 in the Golden Syrian Hamster Model. Because it targets all known variants of the virus we have begun to test its efficacy against by challenging with different strains. We are also beginning immunogenicity studies in the rhesus macaques to determine recapitulation in a possible human trial. We have funding from the Bisciotti Foundation to continue this work.
Data Availability
· Data available upon request.
