COVID-19 vaccine to be tested in Hamilton

Hamiltonians could have the chance to volunteer in the new year to test a COVID-19 vaccine being trialled by McMaster University and the University of Cambridge.

This is a vaccine that is developed by Canadians and will be tested by Canadians and hopefully Canadians will get first dibs," said Dr. Mark Loeb, infectious disease physician and professor at McMaster. Right now, we're not in that situation because there are relatively few vaccines that are being developed and tested in Canada."

The potential vaccine was developed using computer modelling and artificial intelligence by Jonathan Heeney, head of the Laboratory of Viral Zoonotics at Cambridge and founder of DIOSynVax, which is a spinoff company for the immunization.

It uses information on the virus itself as well as its relatives - SARS, MERS and other coronaviruses carried by animals that threaten to spillover' to humans again to cause future human epidemics," Heeney said in a statement. We're looking for chinks in its armour, crucial pieces of the virus that we can use to construct the vaccine to direct the immune response in the right direction. Ultimately we aim to make a vaccine that will not only protect from SARS-CoV-2, but also other related coronaviruses."

The Cambridge professor is Canadian and trained at the University of Guelph. For help testing the vaccine he looked back home, turning to Loeb, known for his work on influenza immunization and the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI), which is affiliated with McMaster and Hamilton Health Sciences and specializes in large international trials.

In fact, Loeb and PHRI are currently finishing up a study of 5,200 people in 12 countries on whether the flu shot reduces cardiovascular events. That trial is one of the reasons Heeney reached out to Loeb near the beginning of the pandemic.

To do a Phase 3 trial of a COVID vaccine you really need to be adept at doing large-scale, global, randomized, controlled trials," said Loeb. We have this infrastructure in place so it's not a stretch going from this influenza vaccine trial to a large-scale COVID-19 trial."

The vaccine has received roughly $3.3 million from the U.K. government for a Phase 1 trial at the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust that is expected to take place this fall. Phase 1 involves testing the vaccine on a small group of people primarily to make sure it's safe.

The plan for Phase 2 is to test the immunization on 500 Canadian volunteers randomized to the vaccine or a placebo as early as the new year.

Phase 2 is looking at immune response so you don't need to be having COVID circulating in that area at that time," he said. In fact it's better if it's not circulating."

Phase 3 would take place in COVID-19 hot spots around the world and require 10,000 volunteers.

We are looking at the ability of the vaccine to prevent COVID," said Loeb. It's important to have many sites around the world including potentially Canada ... Phase 3 we have to be flexible and go for sites where we know there is COVID circulating."

The vaccine, which is based around DNA, works by blocking the spike proteins on the virus from attaching and invading cells in the body.

Our strategy includes targeting those domains of the virus's structure that are absolutely critical for docking with a cell, while avoiding the parts that could make things worse," said Heeney.

The way the vaccine works gives it three potential advantages including a lower risk of side effects.

The part of the virus that is being used in the vaccine to produce an immune response is called the spike protein. We're looking at part of that spike protein called the RBD - the receptive binding domain," said Loeb. One of the advantages of using the RBD is that sometimes when you look at the full spike ... it could lead to more inflammation than one would like so that could potentially have side effects ... There is a strong rationale for it being safer for individuals because it's just part of that one component."

The second plus is a stronger immune response.

There is evidence that the antibodies that would be produced because we are just looking at the RBD component are longer lasting," said Loeb. There would also be more neutralizing antibodies ... to really neutralize the virus.

Lastly, it can be freeze-dried as a powder, making it easier to transport and store.

It's stable at room temperature," said Loeb. It doesn't have to be refrigerated so if we're looking at shipping the vaccine to either remote parts of Canada or remote parts of the world, maintaining the cold chain is not an issue."

The funding beyond Phase 1 hasn't been determined yet.

It would be ideal if the Canadian government would pay for it because than Canadians would have access to a vaccine," said Loeb. I think it's an important opportunity for Canada."

Joanna Frketich is a Hamilton-based reporter covering health for The Spectator. Reach her via email: jfrketich@thespec.com