Lancaster University partnership to develop nasal Covid-19 vaccine

Lancaster University has teamed up with biomedical firm ViraCorp to improve vaccination uptake and Covid-19 immunity around the world by developing a one-of-a-kind nasal vaccine.

The vaccine would attack the virus at its entry point into the body, and provide a cost-effective and easily administered alternative to solutions currently on the market.

It is hoped the novel delivery system will also have a positive impact on vaccine hesitancy currently hindering global immunity and remove the heavy training and infrastructure requirements for delivering vaccines via intramuscular injections.

The project is based on the work undertaken so far by molecular virologist Dr Muhammad Munir (pictured) who has taken on the role of chief scientific officer at ViraCorp in addition to his academic role at the university.

The company will develop the vaccine under its subsidiary ViraVac. ViraCorp and Lancaster University are already working together on testing a new antiviral and antimicrobial mask which begins killing Covid-19 on contact, and is being produced by sister company ViraCoat.

Dr Munir said: "With the emergence of new variants and increasing challenges to equitably vaccinating the world, there is a need to develop novel and improved Covid-19 vaccines. Our next-generation dual-antigen carry vaccine offers solutions to several weaknesses of currently applied vaccines and I am delighted this partnership between ViraCorp and Lancaster University will bring this novel vaccine to market, which I believe will have significant impact in some of the world’s hardest-to-reach communities.

“ViraCorp has put together a team of global partners who will bring world-leading expertise to help bring this vaccine to market. Once we have the relevant permissions, we will look to bring the vaccine to parts of the world which currently have low vaccination rates and will benefit from the stability and low cost of this vaccine and a nasal delivery system.”

Dr Mohammed Rohaim, senior research associate, added: "The intranasal vaccine has been extensively validated in pre-clinical studies and has a safety profile of several decades.”

ViraCorp CEO Jon Chadwick said combining the University’s state-of-the-art facilities and world-leading virology experts with ViraCorp’s mission was a ‘logical step’. He said: “As a company uniquely equipped to help tackle the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it is a responsibility of ours to ensure that our efforts are both as rapid and as impactful as possible.

"Our aim is to ensure that vaccines are available for everybody, including countries and remote communities which may not have access to the currently available vaccines, and our work with Lancaster University is helping us to facilitate that goal."

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