Amazing stuff!
"Artificial intelligence has been used to develop a "fundamentally new" type of vaccine that could protect against large swathes of viruses and prevent pandemics, say researchers.
The team at the University of Cambridge say it is the first time a vaccine's key component has been designed entirely by AI and then trialled in people.
The vaccine was engineered to work on all coronaviruses which would include all Covid variants and viruses that infect animals, but could start the next pandemic. ..."
"The first human clinical trial of a universal Sarbeco coronavirus vaccine, developed by the University of Cambridge and spin-out DIOSynVax (DVX) Ltd, has shown that the vaccine is safe and has no significant side-effects. ..."
From the highlights and abstract:
"Highlights
• pEVAC-PS is a novel, needle-free DNA vaccine targeting all sarbecoviruses
• pEVAC-PS was safe and well tolerated in this phase I study
• Followup Phase 2 to provide data on the breadth and durability of immunogenicity to pEVAC-PS
Summary
Background
Coronaviruses such as SARS, SARS-CoV-2 and related Sarbeco-Coronaviruses continue to pose global health threats, underscoring the need for vaccines capable of inducing broad cross-sarbecovirus protection.
The pEVAC-PS vaccine was developed using Digitally Immune Optimised Synthetic Vaccine (DIOSynVax) technology and pre-clinically selected for the ability to induce broadly protective immune responses across the Sarbecoviruses including SARS, SARS-CoV-2, and related viruses representing potential zoonotic spillovers. For this first-in-human study, the antigen was delivered as a DNA vaccine to enable thermostability and needle-free intradermal administration to support future deployment in resource-limited settings.
Methods
This open label phase I dose escalation study investigated the safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of the pEVAC-PS vaccine candidate against SARS, SARS-CoV-2 and related Sarbeco Coronaviruses via needle-free intra-dermal delivery using the PharmaJet Tropis Device. ...
Findings
Between December 2021 and September 2023, a total of 39 volunteers were vaccinated. The vaccine was well tolerated at all four doses with no significant safety concerns elicited. Interpretation of immunogenicity outcomes was influenced by high baseline antibody levels and heterogeneous exposure histories due to ongoing waves of Omicron variant infections during recruitment, which differed across dose-escalation cohorts and introduced unavoidable immune bias.
Interpretation
Needle-free intradermal delivery of this novel computationally designed PanSarbeco vaccine was safe and well tolerated. Although immunogenicity was modest in the context of substantial pre-existing immunity, participants developed measurable responses to conserved, vaccine-encoded sarbecovirus epitopes, supporting the feasibility of this antigen design strategy."
New ‘universal vaccine’ technology could protect us from future virus outbreaks (original news release) "A Cambridge-led team has developed a way to engineer better vaccines that could provide broad protection from thousands of variants of viruses - such as coronaviruses or Ebola - in a single vaccine. This represents a fundamental new vaccine technology that could prevent future pandemics before they begin."
A phase I, needle free, dose escalation clinical trial of pEVAC-PS, a candidate pan-Sarbecovirus Vaccine (open access)
Fig. 2 Vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 variant timeline. The timeline plot shows the vaccinations periods for each group in relation to the dominant SARS-CoV-2 variant circulating in the UK at the time.
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