During the COVVI-19 epidemic, French research was strongly implicated by its inability to develop a SARS-COV-2 vaccine faster than its competitors. A communiqué Inrae (National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment) shows that it takes revenge today, by opening a new path of vaccination against the virus. The CHRU (Center Hospitalier regional universitaire) in Tours and the ANRS (National Agency for Scientific Research) will launch a clinical trial of a SARS-COV-2 vaccine administered by Spray Nasal, developed by the start-up LovalTech.
For the record, the advantage of a nasal vaccine against a respiratory virus is to give protection both local, at the level of the gateway to the virus (nasal mucous membranes), and systemic, as do classic vaccines, especially in mRNA. This type of vaccine makes it possible to quickly curb viral multiplication and its dissemination in the body. The vaccine that will be tested is made up of the SPIKE protein and a nucleoprotein not subject to Sars-Co-2. It is expected that it also decreases the contagiousness of the COVVI-19.
first results in the fall of 2025
Appointed MUCOBOOST First in humanthe clinical trial will take place in two phases. Phase I will start in early April 2025 at the CHRU CHRU in Tours CHRU in investigation and in June at the Cochin-Pasteur Clinical Investigation Center in Paris. She will recruit 36 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 55 in order to determine the adequate vaccination dose. Three groups of 12 people will be formed to assess one dose each. The test will start with the lowest dose and then dose climbing rules will be applied. Each participant will benefit from 8 medical visits spread over 12 months: one to check the volunteer’s correspondence to the criteria required and validate their participation, one for the administration of the vaccine, six follow -up with organic samples. The first results were expected in the fall of 2025.
-Phase II will start in early 2026. It will recruit 202 healthy volunteers in 5 centers (Tours, Saint-Étienne, Lyon, Cochin and Dijon). Its objective is to show the superiority of the nasal vaccine versus an mRNA vaccine to reduce the contagiousness of the SARS-COV-2.
A private company to industrialize vaccination production
The nasal vaccine is first of all the fruit of public research by a team associating INRAE and the University of Tours. Its development in 2020 rested on a process previously validated for a nasal vaccine against toxoplasmosis. The following year, hamster trials showed its effectiveness to block the transmission of the virus between animals. The NovalTech company was created in 2022 to initiate industrial development. She notably carried out regulatory studies of toxicity and immunogenicity demonstrating the safety and efficiency of the candidate vaccine in animals before his administration in humans.
NovalTech’s ambition does not stop at SARS-COV-2. For its president, Patrick Barillot, the vaccine developed against the Sars-Cov-2 ” represents a strategic opportunity to rethink vaccination, improve immune coverage and face future global health challenges. “This is nothing less than” to establish French leadership in biotechnology and health innovation ».
