Globally, at least 1,074,056 people have died due to the deadly COVID-19 disease, and as many as 37,297,352 COVID-19 cases have been registered. However, although many vaccines, drugs, and other therapies are being tested globally, there is no vaccine or proven treatment for the novel coronavirus caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

More than 170 vaccine candidates are in different stages of development, and a few of them have entered the last stage of clinical testing. As coronavirus illness continues to spread, researchers are exploring new ways to develop vaccines or therapeutics –this includes nasal spray to deliver a vaccine against the terrible virus.

Although most vaccine candidates that have been tested in humans require two shots to be effective – If clinical trials prove to be successful-scientists are looking for other alternatives to generate super immunity responses through inhaled vaccines that directly target respiratory cells invaded by virus reaction.

Dual flu-CORONAVIRUS Intranasal Vaccine will Start Human Trials Next Month

According to Bloomberg News, citing a top infectious disease doctor, an experimental dual vaccine that can be injected through a nasal spray for influenza and SARS-CoV-2 virus, will start clinical trials in Hong Kong next month. 

According to the report, Yuen Kwok-yung, director of infectious diseases in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Hong Kong, revealed that nearly 100 adults will engage in early clinical trials.

The candidate vaccine is similar to the nasal spray flu immunization already on the market and is designed to start working where respiratory viruses usually enter the body: the nose.

Yuen said in an interview: Our main idea is that we want both COVID-19 and influenza protection at the same time. He added that the candidate vaccine is similar to the nasal spray flu vaccine that is already designed to work on respiratory viruses. Usually, enter the body through the nose.

The dual influenza-CORONAVIRUS vaccine is based on the temperature -adapted, diluted, and replication-deficient influenza illness that grows only in the upper respiratory tract. Its developers used genetic engineering techniques to delete the virus’s NS1 protein and insert the receptor-binding domain of the viral spike protein of the SARS-CoV- 2 virus, Yuen added, who alleged that the candidate vaccine works in animals.

On September 9, 2020, Beijing Wantai Biopharmaceuticals, together with researchers from Xiamen University and the University of Hong Kong, jointly developed a nasal spray candidate vaccine against coronavirus intranasal sprays. The drug has been approved to initiate a phase 1 clinical trial. A report of the Clinical Trial Center stated that the candidate vaccine is the first of its kind approved by the China National Medical Products Administration.

Nasal Spray Vaccine for CORONAVIRUS: Why this Method?

Basically, nasal sprays are commonly used to treat symptoms of allergies and colds, such as sneezing, congestion, lacrimation, and runny nose. These liquid medicines are delivered through the nose.

And experts believe that compared with intramuscular injection alternatives, nasal sprays are much less invasive to recipients. This is due to the fact that the drug, which is supplied by many blood vessels, can be quickly absorbed through the nasal mucosa. In addition to this, as this method uses the same production technology as in the case of the influenza vaccine, it is easier to mass-produce, distribute, and help control transmission.

At present, five COVID-19 vaccine candidates with intranasal administration routes are under development. According to GlobalData’s drug database, all of these candidate formations contain SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

Can intranasal vaccine help in the fight against CORONAVIRUS?

Earlier, a research report published on the pre-published biomedical research website medRxiv stated that a new nasal spray developed by an Australian biotech company has been proven to be very effective in reducing virus replication in animals. 

The results of this animal study showed that in a study on ferrets, nasal treatment reduced coronavirus replication by up to 96%. The researchers pointed out that the therapy may have the potential to prevent infections in high-risk groups (including healthcare workers and the elderly).

In addition to this, BioSpace pointed out that the results of a study showed that the immunity of mice with intranasal vaccines is wider than that of intramuscular injections.

When we did this in mouse [intranasal delivery] we were able to see the powerful protection against lung disease, as we saw in the muscular route. In fact, it’s better. We didn’t see any duplicate replication in the lungs at all. Moreover, we hardly see any duplication in the upper respiratory tract.

Therefore, it was protected at the infected site, which is of course important to protect the transmission, said the Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Dr. Michael Diamond, who is also a senior author of the significant recent research.

Experts believe that the nasal spray vaccine can bring many benefits and may effectively trigger immune defences at the point of entry.

In other words, it has been said that as compared with the traditional intramuscular injection method, the intranasal vaccine itself has some challenges. Perhaps, scientists have not done the necessary research on intranasal and mucosal methods. To date, no vaccine for widespread use against COVID-19 has been approved.