Two Intranasal Candidates Get Closer to Augmenting Pandemic Response

It looks as though an intranasal COVID-19 prophylactic may be getting closer to actual fruition. Touted as potentially more effective due to its ability to generate mucosal immunity to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, i.e., block it in the nose where it initiates and replicates, there has been a buzz around it all year. Still, many intranasal prophylaxes have had difficulty getting out of the starting gate.

This morning, two companies appear to have broken through. Codagenix Inc. announced favorable safety and immunogenicity data from a Phase I dose-escalation trial of its single-dose intranasal COVI-VAC vaccine. This follows preclinical data showing that COVI-VAC is also effective against a variant of concern.