What’s next for COVID vaccines?


This article by Jeffrey B. Ulmer and Lbachir BenMohamed, published in “Vaccine Insights 2024,” addresses the urgent need for next-generation COVID-19 vaccines capable of providing long-lasting protection against a wide range of coronavirus strains. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, with new variants emerging, the limitations of first-generation vaccines have become increasingly apparent. These vaccines, while effective in the short term, often show reduced efficacy over time and against new viral strains, underscoring the necessity for more versatile and durable vaccine solutions.

The authors delve into several advanced strategies that hold promise for the development of such vaccines. One key area of focus is the design of novel antigens that can elicit a robust immune response across different coronavirus variants. This approach aims to overcome the challenge of viral mutation by targeting conserved elements common to multiple strains.

Another critical aspect discussed is the role of T cell responses in providing lasting immunity. Unlike antibodies that target specific viral proteins, T cells can recognize and destroy infected cells, potentially offering broader protection against a variety of strains. Enhancing T cell responses through vaccine design could significantly improve the duration and breadth of immunity.

Additionally, the article highlights the importance of mucosal immunity in preventing respiratory infections. Vaccines that can stimulate immune responses in the mucosal linings, where respiratory viruses typically enter the body, could offer superior protection by blocking infection at its entry point.

The successful development of next-generation vaccines will require not only technological innovation but also global cooperation to ensure equitable access. The authors argue that overcoming these challenges is essential for ending the current pandemic and preparing for future coronavirus outbreaks.

By exploring these cutting-edge strategies, Ulmer and BenMohamed contribute valuable insights into the ongoing effort to develop vaccines that are not only effective against current variants but also adaptable to future challenges. Their work underscores the importance of continued research and collaboration in the face of an ever-changing viral landscape.

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TechImmune to Present at the 42nd Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference

As Featured in Yahoo Finance

NEWPORT BEACH, CA, January 2, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE)—TechImmune, LLC., a biotechnology company developing a broad-spectrum, next generation coronavirus vaccine to end the current variant specific COVID-19 booster paradigm and to prevent future CoV pandemics, announced today that Dr. Jeffrey Ulmer, TechImmune’s President, will present at the 42nd annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference being held at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, CA on January 8th – 11th, 2024.  Dr. Ulmer will present a company overview on Wednesday, January 10th at 1:30 PM PST. Institutional investors who are interested in attending the presentation should contact their J.P. Morgan representative for registration information.

“Given the fast-growing resurgence of COVID over the past few months, it is critical to shine light on the acute and long-term effects of this devastating virus and, as such, we are pleased to introduce our groundbreaking T cell antigen technology at this esteemed healthcare conference,” commented Dr. Ulmer.

Current vaccines for COVID-19 rely upon immunizing subjects with vaccines targeting the virus surface Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 for induction of protective antibody responses. This methodology works well when there is a good match between the vaccine and circulating virus, but is problematic because of the high mutation rate in the Spike protein gene observed in the many COVID variants that have appeared since 2020.  As a result, the current variant-specific booster strategy inevitably falls short as its always playing catch-up to the contagion and, by the time a new booster can be developed and deployed, the virus has already substantially mutated to form a new Spike variant.

TechImmune was founded around the scientific premise of developing a COVID vaccine targeting cell mediated immunity (T cells) to conserved common internal proteins of the virus and pairing it with the Spike based humoral vaccine. Such a broad-spectrum COVID vaccine would obviate the need for frequent updating and boosting, as well as prevent future outbreaks. With this goal in mind, the Company obtained an exclusive license for a T cell antigen platform technology from the University of California, which includes a set of rationally chosen and carefully engineered SARS-CoV-2 antigens that code for non-Spike internal proteins. In preclinical studies, the technology was able to demonstrate robust viral titer reductions and animal protection in hamster and mouse models when used alone and in combination with a Spike vaccine, across multiple virus strains starting from ancestral Wuhan strain to the recent XBB1.5 variant.

About TechImmune, LLC

Founded in 2021, the Company is Chaired by Gavin Herbert, former Allergan Chief Executive Officer & founder, and led by distinguished pharma executives including Jeffrey Ulmer PhD (President), former Head of Preclinical R&D at GlaxoSmithKline and Global Head of External Research at Novartis; Rick Haugen (Chief Financial Officer), former Chief Executive Officer of Amylin and Chief Operating Officer of Allergan; James Cavanaugh (Board member), former President of SmithKline U.S. and Chairman of Shire; and Trevor Jones CBE, PhD, DSc (Board member), former Head of Research for Burroughs Welcome. TechImmune is in the process of preparing to initiate a Phase I/II clinical trial to confirm Proof of Concept for the vaccine. For more information, please visit www.techimmune.com.

Media Inquiries:

Christine Dwight
cmdwight@icloud.com
949.235.4468

Investor Inquiries:

Malini Chatterjee, PhD.
Blueprint Life Science Group
mchatterjee@bplifescience.com
917.330.4269

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COVID-19 Vaccine Development: Why Now is Not the Time to Ease Up

Ongoing COVID-19 Vaccine Development Needed

Investing in the development of a universal coronavirus vaccine is crucial to prevent future economic disasters and protect communities. Despite the announcement of the end of the national public health emergency, the world is still at risk of losing over $700 billion annually to pandemics unless critical investments are made. Cutting funding for pandemics is not the solution, as new variants of Covid-19 will likely emerge in the future, causing significant damage. Taking action now can save billions of dollars and countless lives.

A universal coronavirus vaccine is necessary to protect against existing strains and future variants. Although scientists are working on such vaccines, more resources need to be invested due to the ongoing mutation of the virus. Waiting for a new variant to emerge before COVID-19 vaccine development yields a viable candidate would lead to severe consequences for lives and economies.

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U.S. Allocates $5 Billion Toward Accelerating Development of New COVID Vaccines

The US government is investing over $5 billion in a new project called “Project NextGen,” aimed at accelerating the development of new COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. The initiative will collaborate with the private sector and will focus on producing long-lasting antibodies, developing vaccines that produce immunity, and creating broader vaccines that protect against several different coronaviruses. The project will cover all phases of development, from lab research to clinical trials to delivery. The goal is to provide better protection from coronaviruses, including COVID-19 and any future threats.

NATIONAL COVID-19 PREPAREDNESS PLAN MARCH 2022

The government agrees our country needs an emergency response plan considering the effects of the last crisis we faced. The White House has now released the first-ever comprehensive National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response. “This strategy focuses on building a response to this virus and other variants, giving people the tools they need to protect themselves, keeping our schools open and protect themselves, reopen our schools, and get our economy moving again.”

The National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan focuses on four key Goals

Goals:

  1. Protect against and treat COVID-19
  2. Prepare for new variants
  3. Prevent economic and educational shutdowns
  4. Continue to lead the effort to vaccinate the world and save lives

“Make no mistake, President Biden will not accept just “living with COVID” any more than accept living with cancer, Alzheimer’s, or AIDS.”

“We will continue our work to stop the spread of the virus, blunt its impact on those who get infected, and deploy new treatments to dramatically reduce the occurrence of severe COVID-19 and deaths.”

In conclusion, the White House National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan is clear-eyed that new variants will arise, outlining the support of Congress’ Plan to ensure that vaccines, tests, and treatments will be updated and developed quickly to protect against these new variants.

The TechImmune Solution goes in sync with the National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan, TechImmune addresses the unmet needs as COVID-19 continues to surge globally, the staggering costs of health and economic loss, and the current spike-based vaccines losing effectiveness. We believe
in a better vaccine, inducing stronger, broader, and longer-lasting protection against new variants.

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WHAT’S NEXT FOR mRNA VACCINES?

Vaccines have been instrumental in improving human health for centuries, but there are still significant challenges to address, such as improving existing vaccines, responding quickly to emerging infectious disease outbreaks, and simplifying vaccine research and development processes. The recent success of mRNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 has demonstrated their potential to tackle these challenges. By delivering mRNA encoding the antigen into cells, mRNA vaccines can induce potent and broad-based immunity, similar to live virus infection. Additionally, synthetic production methods used in mRNA vaccines simplify and accelerate vaccine manufacturing and characterization, making it easier to get life-saving products to those in need. In this article, Jeffrey Ulmer explains the advantages and potential of mRNA vaccines in the fight against infectious diseases.

The full article from BIOINSIGHTS can be found here:

https://insights.bio/vaccine-insights/journal/article/2786/Whats-next-for-mRNA-vaccines

BIOINSIGHTS-JU-Next-mRNA-vaccinesDownload

What’s next for mRNA vaccines?, Jeffrey Ulmer, Vaccine Insights 2023; 2(3), 93–96, DOI: 10.18609/vac.2023.017, PUBLISHED: 9 APRIL 2023

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Urgent Need for Next-Generation COVID-19 Vaccines

This article from JAMA January 3, 2023, Volume 329, Number 1, p. 19-20 argues that relying on variant-specific vaccine boosters is insufficient as a long-term strategy to address COVID-19 globally. Instead, a new generation of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines is needed to provide longer protection and greater coverage against potential variants. The effectiveness of these new vaccines would need to be ascertained through large randomized clinical trials. To be considered a significant advancement, these new vaccines should ideally protect against a wide range of potential variants, provide at least 75% effectiveness in preventing illness, offer durable protection lasting at least one year, and be suitable for use in all age groups. The ultimate goal is to produce vaccines that offer broad and long-lasting immunity.

The full article from JAMA can be found here: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2799600

Urgent Need for Next-Generation COVID-19 Vaccines - Page 1 - Highlighted Text: Continuing along the current path of the generation and administration of variant-specific vaccine boosters is inadequate as a long-term strategy for addressing COVID-19 in popu- lations globally. Serious consideration therefore needs to be given to the development of a distinctly improved generation of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines offering longer protection with greater scope. Therefore, unless corre- of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines offering longer protection with greater scope. lates of protection that are strongly associated with duration of protection against COVID-19 can be identified, it is likely that rather than relying on immunobridging to infer vaccine effectiveness, large ran- domized clinical trials similar to the initial trials of the currently authorized or licensed vaccines for COVID-19 will be required to ascertain the effectiveness of these new vaccines.
Urgent Need for Next-Generation COVID-19 Vaccines - Page 2 - Highlighted text: So what would define success for these new vaccines? To truly represent a significant advance in this area, the protection pro- vided by vaccination would need to apply across a wide range of potential variants that might emerge. In terms of the actual level of effectiveness, the minimum expectations for such a vaccine might be adopted from the criteria used in the search for an accept- able “universal” influenza vaccine. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases defines the threshold for influenza vaccine as at least 75% effectiveness in preventing influenza-like illness, achieving durable protection that lasts at least 1 year, and suitability for use in all age groups.6 Aiming even further, the vaccines would ideally not only protect against hospitalization, death, and sympto- matic disease leading to increased health care use but would also reduce viral transmission. Even using the criterion for success of a moderate 40% to 60% reduction in transmission is predicted to have a notable positive impact on outbreak control. an attempt to produce vaccines that lead to broad long- lasting immunity is clearly needed.
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Scientists urge pursuit of universal coronavirus vaccine

A growing body of scientific evidence, considered together with ecological reality, strongly suggests that novel coronaviruses will continue to infect bats and other animal reservoirs and potentially emerge to pose a pandemic threat to humans. To counter future coronavirus outbreaks, the global scientific and medical research community should focus a major effort now on three goals: characterize the range of coronavirus genetic diversity in multiple animal species; better understand coronavirus disease pathogenesis in laboratory animal models and people; and apply this knowledge to the development of long-lasting, broadly protective coronavirus vaccines. So argue physician-scientists Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Jeffery K. Taubenberger, M.D., Ph.D., and David M. Morens, M.D., of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, in a new commentary in The New England Journal of Medicine.

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