McMaster researchers to begin trials for new COVID vaccine

Canada's COVID-19 vaccine woes may soon have a made-in-Hamilton solution.

Researchers at McMaster University expect to soon begin clinical trials for two new so-called second-generation" coronavirus vaccines that could help better protect people from new variants of the COVID virus.

What's more, the university's vaccine lab has the capability to produce hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses by the summer. With some hoped-for upgrades, the facility could produce millions of vaccine doses by late fall.

It's not widely known, or even locally known, that McMaster has this capacity," said Brian Lichty, a professor with the McMaster Immunology Research Centre and co-leader of the vaccine development project.

It's part of an effort to try to expand the facility so that maybe this summer we could make millions of doses," Lichty said.

It's hard to get our hands on vaccines in Canada because we don't make any here ourselves yet."

The first-generation COVID vaccines now in use, such as the ones by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, target the large spike protein that protrudes from the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID.

But that's the thing that is most able to change and that's what's creating all of these variants," Lichty said.

McMaster's second-generation vaccine candidates will be more sophisticated than the ones currently in use. They will target three different parts of the coronavirus - the spike protein plus two other areas on the virus that aren't as susceptible to mutation.

In theory, it will give people some sort of baseline immunity against hypothetical future pandemic coronaviruses," said Lichty.

McMaster's researchers are also developing an inhaled version of the vaccine that could be administered via something similar to an asthma puffer.

One advantage of an inhaled vaccine is that it would be taken up directly through the breathing passages and provoke an immune response in the lungs, which is where the virus attacks.

There's geography to immune responses and they tend to hang out where they last saw the thing they're responding to," Lichty said. We like the idea of having the immune response in the lung. It's more efficient."

The other advantage is a much smaller dose of vaccine is required when it's administered as an inhalant - about one-thousandth the amount needed for a typical injection, Lichty said. That could streamline production.

Even though several vaccines are already in use, he added, more varieties may be necessary, which is why McMaster is pushing ahead with new vaccine candidates.

It's hard to know right now what might still be needed," said Lichty. Unfortunately, people hoped the problem was solved when the first vaccines became available. As we're seeing, it may not be that simple."

McMaster also hopes to use the inhaled version of the vaccine as a booster that could be administered to people who have either received one of the first-generation vaccines or who have previously been infected with COVID. The booster could help prime the immune system to fight off new variants that might emerge.

We are at the forefront of finding viable solutions to the ongoing pandemic," McMaster president David Farrar said in a statement. Working on something so pivotal to the health and safety of Canadians is evidence of our ongoing commitment."

Once Health Canada gives its approval, McMaster hopes to begin the first phase of clinical trials in the spring with about 60 volunteers recruited locally.

Steve Buist is a Hamilton-based investigative reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sbuist@thespec.com