Mucosal Covid Vax Trials Kicking Into High Gear (Update 20)

Soon, tens of thousands volunteers will be needed for Covid vaccine trials in the US again. At least some of the “mini-efficacy” trials funded by Project NextGen will be kicking off soon. And this month, we got our first look at some key details of how they will work – for a mucosal vaccine that appears likely to be the first cab off a rank. Meanwhile, volunteers for a human challenge trial are being recruited in the UK.

In other news, there is a bit of new clinical trial data for a mucosal vaccine – and another one is heading for its phase 1, first-in-human, trial. And I’ve added 10 preclinical study results to my collection this month.

This update starts with news on the human challenge trial in the UK. After that, as usual I have the news from the last month broken down into 3 categories of next-generation Covid vaccines (definitions below). Each of these sections ends with an overview of vaccines in the category.

• News on human challenge trials
• Mucosal vaccine news
• Durable or “variant-proof” vaccine news
• Pancoronavirus vaccine news
• Addendum 1: List of authorized vaccines (with countries)
• Addendum 2: Table of mucosal vaccines in clinical trials
• Addendum 3: Table of pancoronavirus vaccines with results
• Addendum 4: Definitions of vaccine types

News on human challenge trials

The MUSiCC Project is moving fast. Funding for this international program led by Imperial College London was only announced a few months ago. (I wrote about that here.) The project aims to dramatically speed up the development of mucosal vaccines for Covid. Human challenge studies involve trying to infect volunteers under controlled conditions. That way, you can find out very quickly, with very few participants, whether or not a vaccine protects people from infection. (If you’re concerned about the risks of this, I wrote my thoughts on that here.)

The first step is deciding which Covid variant to use, and then developing a version that is infectious enough to work for a trial, with the lowest risks. Now that people are vaccinated against Covid, this is a very tough job. The team is already running a trial on their try at this – recruiting people in Oxford and London.

The trial is called COV-CHIM2, and there’s a lot of detail about it in the information for prospective participants that’s now online. They are testing a version of Omicron BA.5. The first step will need about 21 volunteers to find the best dose of the infection. The next step will be to confirm the dose and test safety in 24 volunteers. They plan to finish by the end of this year.

For participants, this is expected to be a 2-week commitment. People will be quarantined in a special unit in Oxford. If they get sick and develop serious symptoms, they will get Paxlovid and any other care they need. Only people who are at very low risk of getting seriously ill are eligible for the trial, though, so the chances of one of that small group getting very sick is very low.

No word yet on which vaccines will go into human challenge trials once they have a successful version. Vaccine developers had up to August 23 to indicate their interest in participating.

Back in 2022, Vaxart was planning on participating in a human challenge study in the UK, but I haven’t seen if they are still interested. (They have done studies like this for their norovirus and influenza vaccines.) More on their oral Covid vaccine in the next section.

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Mucosal vaccine news

This month, there are 3 pieces of clinical trial news:

• Some details of the phase 2b “mini-efficacy” trial for the oral viral vector vaccine from Vaxart in the US;

• Additional brief details from Vaxart’s earlier trials; and

• An intranasal vaccine developed at an Australian university is heading into a clinical trial with an Indian pharmaceutical company.

And in case you missed it, a few months ago I wrote a post to a question I get a lot: “When Will We Get a Sterilizing Covid Vaccine?”

Project NextGen-funded Phase 2b trial details (Vaxart):

All of these trials are to be for 10,000 participants, with half randomized to the mucosal vaccine and the other half to an mRNA vaccine. Vaxart has reported the earliest start plans I’ve seen so far. In a presentation to investors, the company released additional details about the trial:

• The vaccine will be a version adapted for Omicron XBB;

• The primary endpoint will be prevention of symptomatic disease at 12 months;

• Interim analysis for vaccine efficacy is set for when 255 participants have symptomatic disease.

Depending on FDA approval for their plans, they still expect to start recruiting this year.

Vaxart clinical trial data:

Vaxart released a preprint for results for the 35 participants in their phase 1 trial in 2022. In the same presentation to investors, there are a few more details. The developers tested participants for signs of intranasal immune response to a range of coronaviruses. In the preprint, they had reported some immune response to the original SARS. Now, they report that “46% of participants that had increased IgA antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 S also had increased antibody responses to the S protein of other coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-1, MERS, and endemic common cold viruses.”

They also report some results for 20 participants from their phase 2 trial, which adds a little to the data the company included in a press release in 2022. This new data is for a group of participants who had previously had an mRNA vaccine, and report that 7 of the 20 gained additional protection against Omicron after the Vaxart booster.

CDO-7N-1, a live attenuated vaccine developed by Griffith University, heading to clinical trial:

The developers published preclinical results for this single-dose intranasal vaccine, tested in mice, hamsters, and macaques. They report signs of immune response for Covid, including Beta, Delta, and Omicron XBB.1.5 variants, and the original SARS.

In a press release, the developers reported that they have licensed the vaccine to Indian Immunologicals Ltd, who plan to take it into clinical trial.

More new preclinical results:

As well as the one for CDO-7N-1, I have added another 2 preclinical reports for mucosal vaccines to my collection since the last update:

• ChAd-SARS CoV-2-S from Washington University St Louis (USA): This intranasal viral vector vaccine is the vaccine developed and used in India by Bharat Biotech (called iNCOVACC). A transmission study was undertaken in hamsters. They were vaccinated either with the intranasal vaccine, or injected with an mRNA vaccine, and then infected with Covid in a challenge test. To mimic common exposure, unvaccinated hamsters were exposed to the infected vaccinated ones for 8 hours, on 2 occasions. The intranasal vaccine prevented transmission, while the mRNA did not.

• HD-Ad-FS from the University of Toronto (Canada): This is another intranasal viral vector vaccine. It was tested in mice and hamsters. This is the second preclinical report for this vaccine. (The first tested the vaccine in mice.)

Mucosal Covid vaccine overview

• 5 mucosal vaccines are currently authorized for use, at least 1 in each of 6 countries. However, none have been authorized by a drug regulatory agency designated stringent, or listed, by WHO.
• 30 mucosal vaccines have reached clinical trial, although some of the vaccines are no longer in development. The vaccines that have entered clinical trials are tracked in a table below.
• In addition to the 5 authorized mucosal vaccines, 4 have reached phase 2 trials, and another 2 have reached phase 2/3 trial.

US Project NextGen-funded trials in this category:

• Phase 1 for MPV/S-2P, the intranasal viral vector vaccine developed by the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). This trial for 60 participants began recruiting in July 2024.

• Phase 2b (“mini-efficacy”) for the intranasal protein subunit vaccine from Castlevax (planned to start in the last quarter of 2024);
• Phase 2b for the intranasal live attenuated vaccine from Codagenix;
• Phase 2b for the oral viral vector vaccine from Vaxart (planned to start in 2024, possibly in US summer); and

• Phase 2b for the intranasal viral vector vaccine from CyanVac (planned to start in 2024, in US fall).

Only the first of these trials (Phase 1) has been registered at ClinicalTrials.gov so far.

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Durable or “variant-proof” vaccine news

Two of the mucosal vaccines in the previous section had results which potentially put them in this category. There were no other reports for vaccines aiming to be “variant-proof.”

Durable or “variant-proof” vaccine overview

Note: This is a rather vague category, including vaccines that aim to be more durable. I’m not sure how many can be classified as aiming to be “variant-proof”.

Authorized vaccine:

There is one vaccine in this category that has been authorized by a drug regulatory authority designated by WHO has stringent, or listed – and tested against an mRNA vaccine:

• LUNAR-COV19 (USA): This self-amplifying mRNA vaccine was authorized in Japan in November 2023.

US Project NextGen-funded trials in this category:

• Phase 1 for TNX-1800 from Tonix (aiming for lifelong immunity) (planned to go into clinical trial in 2024);

• Phase 2b (“mini-efficacy”) for Gritstone Bio (self-amplifying mRNA).

• Phase 2b (“mini-efficacy”) for GeoVax (viral vector vaccine).

These trials have not been registered at ClinicalTrials.gov as yet.

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Pancoronavirus vaccine news

Pancoronavirus vaccines aim to provide protection not only from variants of the SARS virus that causes Covid, but also against the next new coronavirus to spread among humans. This month, 4 vaccines have joined this category, all from the US. As discussed above, the mucosal vaccine from Vaxart has also been tested against other coronaviruses.

• Om-S-MERS-RBD: A protein subunit vaccine from Georgia State University (USA) based on both Omicron and MERS. It provided protection in mice challenged with Omicron, MERS, and the original SARS.

• (Unnamed): An mRNA vaccine from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (USA) was compared with current mRNA vaccines in challenge tests in mice for Covid, the original SARS, and several coronaviruses that occur in other animals. It provided protection. However, the mice in the comparison group showed less immune response, and were infected by the original SARS and one of the other coronaviruses.

• (Unnamed): A protein subunit vaccine vaccine from the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (South Korea) was tested in 2 types of mice. It is based on MERS. The mice showed immune responses to MERS. However, when challenged with Covid, only one type of mouse was protected.

• (Unnamed): A protein subunit vaccine from State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease Guangzhou Medical University (China) was tested in mice and macaques. This vaccine includes components of both types of SARS and MERS. The mice showed signs of immune responses to all 3, as well as some animal coronaviruses, and showed protection in challenge tests in comparison with control mice. The vaccinated macaques showed signs of immune response to all 3 as well.

I also added another 2 reports for vaccines already in this collection, as well as a journal publication for a report previously in preprint for another. You can see these in the table below, marked with an asterisk.

Pancoronavirus vaccine overview

A table below this post keeps track of vaccines I’ve added to this category so far that have publicly available preclinical results.

There are 5 of these vaccines in phase 1 clinical trials, with some results for 2 of them marked *:

• DIOSynVax (Cambridge University spin-off, UK) – mRNA.
• INSERM/LinkInVax (France) – protein subunit.
• Osivax (France) – protein subunit (phase 1 trial fully recruited in June 2024).
• * VBI Vaccines (Canada) – eVLP.
• * Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR, USA) – protein subunit.

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Addendum 1: List of authorized next generation Covid vaccines (with countries)

There are now 7 next-generation Covid vaccines authorized in 7 countries. Only one has been authorized by a drug regulatory agency designated stringent, or listed, by WHO – it’s in bold. I’ve listed the vaccines in 2 categories, in order of date of first authorization.

Mucosal:

• Razi-Cov Pars (Iran), intranasal protein subunit vaccine: Iran (October 2021).
• Sputnik (Russia), intranasal viral vector vaccine: Russia (April 2022).
• Convidecia (China), inhaled viral vector vaccine: China (September 2022), Morocco (November 2022), Indonesia (March 2023).
• iNCOVACC (USA/India), intranasal viral vector vaccine: India (September 2022).
• Pneucolin (China), intranasal viral vector vaccine: China (December 2022).

Self-amplifying mRNA:

• Gemcovac (India): India (June 2022).
• LUNAR-COV19 (USA): Japan (November 2023).

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Addendum 2: Table of mucosal vaccines in clinical trials

* Indicates new entry since previous update post.

Note: Where there is a link to “All records” for a vaccine, that’s in my public Zotero collection for the vaccine, and it may include non-mucosal studies for that vaccine. Notes on that collection are here. For details on how I track Covid vaccine progress to maintain that collection, see my background post.

Vaccine, type, manufacturer	Mucosal version(s)	Phase 1 to 2 clinical trials	Phase 3+ trial(s)	Phase 3+ efficacy or immunogenicity results
ACM-001 Protein subunit ACM Biolabs (Singapore/Switzerland) (All records)	Intranasal.	Phase 1. Results (press release only)
Ad5-nCoV (Convidecia Air) Viral vector (adenovirus) CanSino (China) (All records)	Inhaled through the mouth using a nebulizer.	Phase 1. Results. Phase 1/2. Results (plus second later preprint). Phase 1/2. Results. Phase 2 (aged 6-17 years). Booster adapted for variant.	10,420 people in China (Phase 3). Results. 1,350 people (Phase 3). 540 people, in Malaysia (Phase 3). 904 people in China (Phase 4). Results. 360 people (Phase 4). 451 people (Phase 4). Results.	904 people: Comparison after 2-dose course of inactivated vax: Convidecia injection vs inhaled, protein subunit, or CoronaVac booster (Phase 4 results). Both injected & inhaled Convidecia had stronger impact on signs of immunity than the others; response after inhaled version was slower but longer-lasting than injected (which peaked then declined from day 14), better for Omicron though not as good for original virus. No measure of mucosal immunity used. 451 people: Comparison of different versions adapted for variant, including a bivalent version. Booster of inhaled Convidecia after previous vaccination with inactivated vaccine. Signs of immune response to Omicron were higher for the bivalent vaccine, though lower for the original SARS-CoV-2 strain.
Ad5-S Viral vector (adenovirus) State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease/Guangzhou Enbao Biomedical Technology Co (China) (All records)	Intranasal.	Infection prevention study.
AdCOVID Viral vector (adenovirus) AltImmune (USA) (All records)	Intranasal.	Phase 1. Results – press release only. Discontinued after phase 1.
AdS+N Viral vector (adenovirus) ImmunityBio (USA) (All records)	Intranasal, oral capsule, or sublingual.	Phase 1 (oral). Phase 1 (sublingual).
AeroVax (Ad5-triCoV) Viral vector (adenovirus) McMaster University/Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Canada) (All records)	Aerosol.	Phase 1 (& ChAd-triCoV/Mac). Phase 2.
Avacc 10 Protein subunit Intravacc (Netherlands) (All records)	Intranasal.	Phase 1. Results (press release only)
bacTRL-Spike-1 Live attenuated Symvivo (Canada) (All records)	Oral.	Phase 1.
BBV154 (iNCOVACC) Viral vector (adenovirus) Bharat Biotech (India) (All records) This vaccine is ChAd-SARS-CoV-2-S Washington University in St Louis (USA) (All records)	Intranasal.	Phase 1. Phase 2. Small amount of data from these trials in the drug product information. Phase 2/3. Phase 2.	In India, 2-dose course of BBV154 vs 2-dose course of injected Covaxin inactivated vaccine (Phase 3 – and here). Results (previously in preprint). See also the drug product information. 875 people in India, booster trial (Phase 3).	2,971 previously unvaxed people were assigned for the intranasal iNCOVACC, 161 for injected Covaxin. This trial did not aim to assess disease outcomes. It took place during the first Omicron wave. Signs of immune response were higher for iNCOVACC than Covaxin. Adverse events rate very low (5% local and 3% systemic) – lower than for comparison group.
B/​HPIV3/​S-6P Viral vector (parainfluenza) NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) (USA) (All records)	Intranasal.	Phase 1. Fully recruited by early July 2024.
BV-AdCoV-1 Viral vector (adenovirus) Wuhan BravoVax (China) (All records)	Inhaled through the mouth using a nebulizer.	Phase 1.
ChAdOx1 Viral vector (adenovirus) Oxford University (UK) (This is the AstraZeneca vax) (All records)	Intranasal.	Phase 1. Phase 1. Results.
CoV2-OGEN1 Protein subunit US Specialty Formulations/VaxForm (USA) (All records)	Oral.	Phase 1. (Fully recruited, final dose in November 2022.) Press release stating successful (without data) and progressing to phase 2 trial.
COVI-VAC Live attenuated Codagenix (USA, with the Serum Institute of India) (All records)	Intranasal.	Phase 1. Press release in 2021 stating successful (without data) and progressing to phase 2/3. Preliminary results (conference abstract in 2021) and in a 2022 press release. Results in 2023 (press release only). Phase 1 (booster).	Phase 2/3, as part of the WHO Solidarity Trial for Vaccines in Mali, Colombia, Kenya, Philippines, Sierra Leone. Fully recruited by July 2024. (Protocol.)
CVXGA1-001 Viral vector (parainfluenza) CyanVac/Blue Lake Tech (USA) (All records)	Intranasal.	Phase 1. Results (press release only). Phase 2.
DNS1-RBD (Pneucolin) Viral vector (influenza) Beijing Wantai BioPharm (China) (All records)	Intranasal.	Phase 1. Phase 2. Joint results.	30,990 participants in Colombia, Philippines, South Africa, Vietnam. Results (previously in preprint.) 5,400 participants in Ghana (Phase 3).	Comparison of 2 doses of intranasal vaccine 14 days apart, with placebo control, during circulation of Omicron. Included >13,000 previously unvaccinated people. Efficacy shown 90 days after 2nd dose. There was some decline at 180 days. Efficacy against symptomatic Covid: No previous vax: 55.2% (CI 13.8 to 76.7) Inactivated: 38.2% (CI -49.2 to 74.4) Viral vector: 39.9% (CI -16.7 to 69.1) mRNA: 10.1% (CI -45.9 to 44.5) Efficacy against severe Covid: No previous vax: 66.7% (CI 8.3 to 87.9) Inactivated: 54.6% (CI -47.3 to 86.0) Viral vector: 50.0% (CI -6.8 to 76.6) mRNA: 19.5% (CI -39.2 to 53.4) Efficacy against hospitalization: 100% (CI -9.2 to 100) Adverse events were very low – similar to placebo. Less than 8% of people had a runny and/or blocked nose or sore throat.
GAM-COVID-VAC (rAd26-S – Sputnik Light) Viral vector (adenovirus) Gamaleya Research Institute (Russia)	Intranasal.	Phase 1/2	7,000 participants in Russia (Phase 3 or phase 2/3 – not clear).
Mambisa Protein subunit Centre for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology (CIGB) (Cuba) (All records)	Intranasal drops.	Phase 1/2. Phase 1/2. Results (report of a conference presentation). Phase 2.
MPV/S-2P Viral vector (murine pneumonia) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) (USA) (All records)	Intranasal drops.	Phase 1.
MV-014-212 Viral vector (RSV) Meissa Vaccines (USA) (All records)	Intranasal drops or spray.	Phase 1. Results (press release).		This vaccine is in limbo because of the company’s financial difficulties.
MVA-SARS-2ST Viral vector (MVA) German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF)/IDT Biologika (All records)	Inhalation.	Phase 1.
CVAX-01 Viral vector (Newcastle Disease Virus) Castlevax/Icahn Mt Sinai (All records)	Intranasal.	Phase 1. Results (press release).
Ad5-S-Omicron BA.1 Viral vector (Adenovirus 5) Guangzhou Medical University/Guangzhou National Laboratory (China) (All records)	Intranasal	Phase 1. Results.
Patria (NDV-HXP-S/AVX-COVID-12-HEXAPRO) Viral vector (Newcastle Disease Virus) Laboratorio Avi-Mex (Mexico) (All records on Patria, see also CVAX-01 for early development.)	Intranasal.	Phase 1. Results. Phase 2. Results.	Phase 2/3 for injected version only: Results.
PRAK-03202 Protein subunit Oravax (USA) [Oravax was established by OraMed (Israel) to develop this vaccine, using Premas Biotech’s PRAK-03202 and their oral vaccine technology] (All records on oral PRAK-03202, and on intramuscular version)	Oral.	Phase 1 (in South Africa). Results (press release only).
Razi-Cov Pars Protein subunit Razi Vaccine & Serum Research Institute (Iran) (All records)	Intranasal (third dose after 2 injections).	Phase 1. Results. Phase 2. Results. Phase 1 to 2 (in 12-17 year-olds). Phase 4 (Booster). Phase 1 to 2 (in 5-17 year-olds).	41,128 people in Iran, comparing the 3-dose course to 2-dose inactivated Sinopharm Beijing vax, only partially randomized (Phase 3). Results (Previous media report for the first 24,000 participants.)	The authors concluded Razi-Cov Pars was non-inferior to the inactivated vaccine, with similarly very low adverse events. However, the trial could not establish whether there was an advantage to an intranasal dose.
SC-Ad6-1 Viral vector (adenovirus) Moat Bio/Tetherex (USA) (All records)	Intranasal and inhaled.	Phase 1. Trial expanded to add an inhaled version (from 130 to 190 people). Results so far briefly mentioned in press release.
SpikoGen Protein subunit Vaxine (Australia) (All records on mucosal and on all forms.)	Oral/sublingual.	Phase 1.
(Unnamed) Inactivated bacteria DreamTec (Hong Kong) (All records)	Oral.	Phase 1. Phase 1. Phase 1. Note: An article of preclinical results has been retracted over lack of ethics committee approval.
VXA-CoV2-1/VXA-CoV2-1.1-S Viral vector (adenovirus) Vaxart (USA) (All records)	Tablets.	Phase 1. Results. Phase 2. (Started October 1, 2021.) Results (press release). * Additional brief results in presentation.

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Addendum 3: Pancoronavirus vaccines with preclinical results

* Indicates new entry since previous update post.

Developer Country Vaccine name	Type of: Vaccine Coronavirus	Preclinical results	Clinical trial status
Academia Sinica Taiwan (Taiwan) (Unnamed)	mRNA All	Non-primate
Baylor College of Medicine (USA) (Unnamed)	Protein subunit Beta	Non-primate
Beijing University of Chemical Technology (China) (Unnamed)	Live attenuated pangolin coronavirus All	Non-primate
California Institute of Technology (Caltech) USA Mosaic-8b	Protein subunit Beta	Non-primate Non-primate Non-primate Primate, non-primate Primate, non-primate (update) (previous version) Non-primate (new version of the vaccine) * Primate and non-primate
Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin Germany NILV-PanCoVac	Viral vector All	Non-primate (mucosal)
China Cuba Joint Innovation Center China, Cuba Unnamed	Protein subunit Sarbeco	Non-primate (mucosal)
Codiak USA exoVACC Pan Beta Coronavirus	Protein subunit Beta	Article on development Non-primate (conference slides) Non-primate (conference slides)	(This company began proceedings in bankruptcy court. See news.)
DIOSynvax UK DIOS-CoVax/ pEVAC-PS	mRNA Sarbeco	Non-primate Non-primate	Phase 1 trial (incl. protocol) (Up to 36 participants in the UK) Began December 2021. Fully recruited. Expanded to another city – no trial register entry found.
Duke University USA RBD–scNP	Protein subunit Beta	Primate Primate Primate, non-primate Non-primate (previously in preprint) Primate, non-primate
Francis Crick Institute UK (Unnamed)	Protein subunit with DNA boost All	Non-primate
Fudan University China HR1LS	Protein subunit Sarbeco	Primate, non-primate Primate Primate Non-primate
Georgia State University, University of Iowa USA SARS2-S (SARS-RBD)	mRNA Sarbeco	Non-primate Non-primate
* Georgia State University USA Om-S-MERS-RBD	Protein subunit All	Non-primate
Georgia State University USA (Unnamed)	Protein subunit Sarbeco	* Non-primate Primate, non-primate Non-primate
Guangdong Pharmaceutical University China (Unnamed)	Protein subunit All	Non-primate
* Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology South Korea (Unnamed)	Protein subunit Sarbeco	Non-primate
INSERM Vaccine Research Institute/LinKinVax France PanCov (CD40.CoV2/RBDv)	Protein subunit Sarbeco	Non-primate Primate, non-primate Primate Non-primate (conference poster)	Phase 1/2 trial (Up to 240 participants in France) Booster trial, planned to start recruiting in February 2024.
Osivax France OVX033	Protein subunit Sarbeco	Non-primate	Phase 1 trial (48 participants in France) First participant vaccinated in February 2024. Fully recruited in June 2024.
Pennsylvania State University USA (Unnamed)	Protein subunit All	Non-primate
Scripps Research Institute USA (Unnamed)	Protein subunit Beta	Non-primate
SK Bioscience/ Uni of Washington/Uni of North Carolina at Chapel Hill South Korea, USA GBP511	Protein subunit Sarbeco	Primate, non-primate (testing Covid vaccine GBP510 against other sarbecoviruses)	More on plans for adapting this vaccine – GBP510 authorized as SKYCovione. See the University of Washington research listed below in this table.
Stanford University USA DCFHP-alum	Protein subunit Sarbeco	Primate Erratum (correction to legend in a figure). Non-primate
* State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease Guangzhou Medical University China (Unnamed)	Protein subunit Sarbeco	Primate and non-primate
Sun Yat-Sen University China (Unnamed)	Protein subunit Sarbeco	Non-primate
University of California Irvine/Techimmune USA (Unnamed)	Viral vector Beta	Non-primate (previously in preprint) Non-primate (mucosal) (previously in preprint) Non-primate (There was also a paper about this vaccine’s development in 2021.)
University of Houston/Auravax USA NanoSTING-NS	Protein subunit (intranasal) Sarbeco	Non-primate Non-primate Non-primate Primate, non-primate
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill USA (Unnamed)	Viral vector Sarbeco	* Non-primate (Previously in preprint)
* University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill USA (Unnamed)	mRNA Sarbeco	Non-primate
University of Toronto Canada (Unnamed)	Protein subunit Sarbeco	Non-primate
University of Washington USA (Unnamed)	Protein subunit Sarbeco	Non-primate (Previously in preprint) Non-primate Non-primate (MERS vaccine developed on the same platform as GBP511.)	(See “GBP511” above in this table.)
University of Wisconsin-Madison (PanCorVac) USA (Unnamed)	Protein subunit All	Non-primate Non-primate Non-primate Non-primate
VBI Vaccines Canada VBI-2901	eVLP All	Non-primate Non-primate (Press release)	Phase 1 trial (103 participants in Canada) Began October 2022. Fully recruited. (Further background info.) Results (press release only). (101 participants) Previously vaccinated people boosted with 2 low or high doses, or 1 high-dose. Limited data reported. Some signs of immune response to a range of coronaviruses, mostly lasting at least 5 months. No major safety concerns.
Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) USA SpFN/ALFQ	Protein subunit Beta	Non-primate Non-primate Non-primate (incl RFN) Non-primate Primate Primate Primate (with J&J vax)	Phase 1 trial (US) Began April 2021, with 29 participants, including some on placebo. Results. Vaxed participants showed immune responses to several Covid variants and several sarbecoviruses, but no signs of response to MERS.
Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) USA RFN	Protein subunit Beta	Non-primate (incl SpFN) Primate
Yale University USA (Unnamed)	mRNA All	Non-primate Non-primate
Yale University/Xanadu Bio USA (Unnamed)	Protein subunit, intranasal booster Sarbeco	Non-primate

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Addendum 4: Definitions of vaccine types

• Mucosal vaccines: These enter the body the way the virus does – through mucosal tissues. It’s hoped that provides defence against infection. They can be administered via different routes – squirts or drops in the nose, inhaled through the mouth through a nebulizer (similar to an asthma medication), or in tablet, capsule, or sublingual form.
• Pan-SARS-CoV-2 or “variant-proof” vaccines: These aim to provide protection against any variant of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 – including future variants. I include vaccines that aim for greater durability in this group.
• Pancoronavirus can be targeted to:
  • the “subgroup” the 2 SARS viruses came from (the sarbecovirus subgenus),
  • coronaviruses from the next level up (the genus, betacoronavirus, which includes lethal diseases like MERS, as well as common cold viruses), or
  • the whole coronavirus family – it has 4 genuses, including betacoronavirus and alphacoronavirus (with more common cold viruses).

I classify a vaccine as a pancoronavirus one when the developers are explicitly targeting coronaviruses more broadly than SARS-CoV-2, and have tested for signs of response to non-SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus(es) (or clearly plan to).

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You can keep up with my work at my newsletter, Living With Evidence. And I’m active on Mastodon: @hildabast@mastodon.online 

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For details on how I track Covid vaccine progress, see my background post. Notes on my collection of studies are here. The collection is in a public Zotero library you can dig into here.

Previous update posts on next generation Covid vaccines:

1. Mucosal vaccines (March 2022)
2. Pan-SARS-Cov-2 and pancoronavirus (July 2022)
3. Mucosal vaccines (July 2022)
4. Mucosal vaccines (September 2022)
5. Mucosal vaccines (April 2023)
6. Pancoronavirus vaccines (April 2023)
7. Next generation (May 2023)
8. Next generation (June 2023)
9. Next generation (July 2023)
10. Next generation (August 2023)
11. Next generation (September 2023)
12. Next generation (November 2023)
13. Next generation (January 2024)
14. Next generation (February 2024)
15. Next generation (March 2024)
16. Next generation (April 2024)

17. Next generation (May 2024)

18. Next generation (June 2024)

19. Next generation (July 2024)

All my Absolutely Maybe Covid-19 vaccine posts

All previous Covid-19 posts at Absolutely Maybe

My posts at The Atlantic, at WIRED, and debunking posts at my personal website.

Disclosures: My interest in Covid-19 vaccine trials began as a person worried about the virus, as my son was immunocompromised: I have no financial or professional interest in the vaccines. I have worked for an institute of the NIH in the past, but not the one working on vaccines (NIAID). More about me.

The cartoon is my own (CC BY-NC-ND license). (More cartoons at Statistically Funny.)