Vaxxas to begin Covid booster trials in Adelaide this year

Syringe-free vaccination technology company Vaxxas has announced it will recruit participants for a Phase 1 clinical trials combining its delivery patch and a Covid-19 vaccine.

According to the company, Phase 1 clinical trials will take place this year in Adelaide and use Vaxxas’s high-density microarray patch (HD-MAP) device and the University of Texas at Austin’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

The company plans to recruit between 50 and 100 participants in coming months to help understand the safety of a patch-administered booster “in populations who have previously been vaccinated three times with an approved COVID-19 vaccine.” 

A patch-delivered vaccine was expected to be launched “within three years” after that trial and Phase 2 and Phase 3 rounds. The Phase 1 trial is a next step for Vaxxas and UT Austin toward seeking TGA and FDA approvals.

“As we continue to face challenges with vaccines and booster dose rollout, governments are now looking at what they can do differently the next time we are faced with a pandemic,” said Vaxxas CEO David Hoey, in a statement. 

“This clinical trial, supported by our extensive preclinical trial work showing the potential of our technology to enable dose sparing, low-skilled administration, and mitigation of cold-chain storage and distribution, will put Vaxxas in a position to make a significant impact on future vaccination rollout.”

Vaxxas was spun out of the University of Queensland and established in 2011. Its delivery platform uses thousands of tiny, micro-moulded spikes coated in dry vaccines, taking advantage of the high amount of immune cells in skin, which mean higher response of antibodies for a given dose.

The company is based in Brisbane, with a presence in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is currently building a new manufacturing facility with Queensland Government support at Brisbane’s Northshore, scheduled for completion next year.

Picture: Vaxxas

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