Biotechnology firm Codagenix and Serum Institute of India (SII) have dosed the first patient in Phase I clinical trial of a single-dose, intranasal Covid-19 vaccine, COVI-VAC.
Developed with Codagenix’s Synthetic Attenuated Virus Engineering (SAVE) platform, the vaccine can potentially provide a safe, live attenuated form of SARS-CoV-2 that could stimulate a robust immune response and long-term cellular immunity against the virus.
Carried out by Open Orphan subsidiary hVIVO in London, UK, the trial will also assess the vaccine’s ability to stimulate an immune response. Neutralising antibodies, mucosal immunity in the airway, as well as cellular immunity, will be measured for this purpose.
Open Orphan (LON:ORPH) was founded in 2017, with the goal of rapidly building Europe’s leading pharma services company by a management team with extensive industry and financial expertise. The company comprises of two commercial specialist CRO services businesses (Venn Life Sciences and hVIVO) and is also developing a genomics data platform business (Genomic Health Data).