Background
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the cause of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Most people infected with the COVID-19 virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment. However, older people, and those with underlying medical problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are more likely to develop serious illness. Marketed Covid-19 vaccines target only the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. These vaccines are easier to develop, but sensitive to viral mutations allowing immune escape. It is expected that mutations in the spike protein will continue to emerge, and that regular updates to the composition of Covid vaccines will be necessary.
Vaccine Objective
The objective of our vaccine is provide-long-lasting immunity against SARS-CoV-2 infection. The vaccine has been designed to activate a strong humoral and cellular immune response targeting multiple parts of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in order to obtain broad coverage against different SARS-CoV-2 variants. The multi-specific immune response will function by limiting the spread of the infection and eliminating infected cells.
Vaccine Design
The design of our vaccine targets three proteins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (spike, membrane and nucleoprotein) thereby activating a broadly reactive immune response to the virus that will curb immune escape. Our unique synthetic vaccine induces neutralizing antibodies, and broadly reactive CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses important to offer adequate protection against disease caused by mulitple SARS-CoV-2 viruses.
Results
Phase 1 study of its universal Covid-19 vaccine, SVF-002
This double-blind, placebo controlled, randomized, first-in-human clinical study was run by the OpenCorona consortium in collaboration with the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden. It recruited healthy individuals who had previously received three doses of approved mRNA Covid-19 vaccines to receive a single dose of either placebo or one of three different doses of the vaccine. The data demonstrated that the vaccine was safe and well-tolerated, and that higher doses of the vaccine boosted neutralizing antibodies to the S protein and unique T-cell responses to the highly conserved M and N proteins.
“The successful completion of a first clinical study with one of our vaccines, and the demonstration that it was both safe and well-tolerated as well as immunogenic in human subjects, represents an important milestone for SVF Vaccines as we optimize and develop our portfolio of therapeutic and prophylactic vaccines. We see this as strong sign of our ability to take our products to phase I clinical trials” said John Öhd, Chairman of the Board Member of SVF Vaccines.
COVID-19
Publications
Appelberg S, Ahlén G, Yan J, Nikouyan N, Weber S, Larsson O, Höglund U, Aleman S, Weber F, Perlhamre E, Apro J, Gidlund EK, Tuvesson O, Salati S, Cadossi M, Tegel H, Hober S, Frelin L, Mirazimi A, and Sallberg M. 2022. A universal SARS-CoV DNA vaccine inducing highly crossreactive neutralizing antibodies and T cells. EMBO Molecular Medicine DOI: 10.15252/emmm.202215821.
Yan J, Bangalore CR, Nikouyan N, Appelberg S, Pasetto A, Weber F, Weber S, Larsson O, Höglund U, Bogdanovic G, Grabbe M, Aleman S, Szekely L, Szakos A, Tuvesson O, Gidlund EK, Cadossi M, Salati S, Tegel H, Hober S, Frelin L, Mirazimi A, Ahlén G, and Sallberg M. Distinct roles of vaccine induced SARS-CoV-2-specific neutralizing antibodies and T cells in protection and disease. Molecular Therapy 2024. 32(2):540-555. doi:10.1016/j.ymthe.2024.01.007.