Vaxart Has Developed the First Oral Investigational COVID-19 Vaccine

For those patients who might have anxiety about needles or hesitancy to take a vaccine, an oral COVID-19 tablet vaccine has been developed and is in a phase 1 trial.

South San Francisco-based Vaxart recently announced they had entered into a phase 1 trial for their VXA-CoV2-1 vaccine. Vaxart is a biotechnology company developing a range of oral recombinant vaccines based on its proprietary delivery platform.

The trial is an open-label, dose-ranging study and is expected to finish this month. The trial is going to examine the safety and immunogenicity of 2 doses of VXA-CoV2-1 in up to 48 healthy adult volunteers aged 18 to 54 years old.

All participants will be receiving the low or high dose of the VXA-CoV2-1 oral tablet at days 1 and 29. Safety, reactogenicity, and immunogenicity assessments will be performed at set times during the active phase.

Contagion® recently spoke to Sean Tucker, PhD, chief scientific officer and founder of Vaxart.

“I think one of the key things we are excited about is what is happening on the mucosal surface,” Tucker said. “…We think having a mucosal vaccine at the site of infection could be extremely beneficial from a standpoint of efficacy. Imagine if you could block infection entirely?”

Tucker also spoke about the vaccine’s platform, the advantages of taking a tablet as opposed to injecting a vaccine, and its potential place in the market.