The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) has granted the Biotech company Vaxxas Pty. Ltd. of Australia a worldwide license to a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) antigen known as DS2. The license will allow for the firm to create the first needle-free and room-temperature stable RSV vaccine using a novel and “cutting edge” high-density microarray patch (HD-MAP). The DS2 antigen was developed at the NIH’s Vaccine Research Center and is designed to elicit a stronger and durable immune response than the currently approved DS-Cav1.1
Vaxxas’ HD-MAP technology is a needle-free vaccine consisting of thousands of tiny projections on a small patch. Each of the micro projections is coated with a dried vaccine formulation. The patch is applied to the skin then delivers the vaccine to immune cells located just beneath the skin’s surface.
The needle-free vaccine platform has gone through five Phase I clinical trials including a second-generation COVID-19 biologic candidate, as well as microarray versions of vaccines for influenza, measles, and rubella. Vaxxas plans to advance its HD-MAP RSV vaccine to a Phase I clinical study after completing preclinical development.1
Hellbound and Down 