University of Queensland scientists used a ‘patch’ to deliver a US-developed COVID vaccine without the jab, and successfully protected mice from the virus.
The vaccine candidate from University of Texas Hexapro was delivered via the high-density microarray patch (HD-MAP) and provided protection against COVID disease with a single, painless ‘click’ from a handheld applicator.
Dr David Muller, from UQ’s School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, said the vaccine patch produced strong immune responses that were shown to be effective when the mice were exposed to SARS-CoV-2.
“When the Hexapro vaccine is delivered via HD-MAP applicator – rather than a needle – it produces better and faster immune responses,” Dr Muller said.
“It also neutralises multiple variants, including the UK and South Africa variants.
“And it’s much more user-friendly than a needle – you simply ‘click’ an applicator on the skin, and 5000 microscopic projections almost-imperceptibly deliver vaccine into the skin.
“The UQ team, together with Vaxxas, hope to take the technology to the world and are looking for funding opportunities to accelerate to clinical trials as soon as possible.”
Dr Muller said that Hexapro, delivered by the high-density microarray patch, could dramatically assist global vaccine rollout effort, particularly for billions of vulnerable people in low- and middle-income countries.
“We’ve shown this vaccine, when dry-coated on a patch, is stable for at least 30 days at 25 degrees Celsius and one week at 40 degrees, so it doesn’t have the cold chain requirements of some of the current options.”
High-density microarray patch (HD-MAP)
Vaxxas was founded in 2011 with the help of University of Queensland. The company’s president and CEO, David L Hoey, said he was extremely excited about the findings.
“These results are extremely clear – vaccination by HD-MAP produces much stronger and more protective immune responses against COVID-19 in model systems than via needle or syringe,” he said.
“We thank and recognise our incredible research collaborators at UQ for these important findings.
“The prospect of having a single-dose vaccine, that could be easily distributed and self-administered, would greatly improve global pandemic vaccination capabilities,” said Hoey
The research is currently undergoing peer review and has been published in BioRxiv (DOI: 10.1101/2021.05.30.446357).
Source: The University of Queensland
