Intranasal COVID-19 Booster Candidate Elicits Mucosal Immunity

Michigan-based BlueWillow Biologics, Inc., a pioneer in intranasal vaccine development, and Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corporation today announced its intranasal COVID-19 booster (BW-1019) provided protection and boosted immune response when administered following an intramuscular vaccine series in preclinical studies.

The non-peer-reviewed study's results showed that the groups receiving the intranasal booster had significant induction of virus-neutralizing antibodies and showed protection against COVID-19 disease.

The non-human study examined the responses in hamsters receiving various regimens of intramuscular-only, intramuscular primary, and intranasal booster vaccine, and a negative control group receiving no vaccination. 

In addition, all animals boosted intranasally with BW-1019, except that of the dose sparing group, had no detectable virus in their lungs and nasal passages.

"COVID-19 has proven the importance of eliciting mucosal immunity through intranasal vaccination to stop the cycle of upper respiratory viral carriage and spread," said Vira Bitko, Ph.D., Vice President of Vaccine R&D at BlueWillow Biologics, in a press release issued on March 2, 2022.

"We are excited to demonstrate that our intranasal vaccine candidate not only provides mucosal protection but also boosts the systemic immunity elicited from intramuscular vaccination against COVID-19."

"We have previously shown similar results in other diseases."

Medigen's MVC-COV1901 subunit vaccine's clinical study data has shown robust safety and promising immunogenicity responses and has, as a result, obtained Taiwan's approval on July 19, 2021, and Paraguay's on February 14, 2022.

The intranasal COVID-19 booster combines BlueWillow's proprietary nanoemulsion technology, which acts as both an efficient antigen delivery and adjuvant, with Medigen's U.S. National Institutes of Health-licensed SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.