BioLingus and partners secure research grant for needle-free COVID-19 vaccine

The granted R&D project “Development of sublingual COVID-19 subunit vaccine” aims to develop a sublingual tablet or drop type of recombinant subunit COVID-19 vaccine. The sublingual COVID-19 vaccine uses sublingual mucosal delivery technology to deliver the vaccine to the mucous membrane. Administered as a tablet type, they are dissolved under the tongue and absorbed across the mucous membrane. Unlike conventional injectable COVID-19 vaccines, a sublingual COVID-19 vaccine can induce mucosal immunity, thereby effectively preventing viral infections at the mucosal frontier and reducing viral release.

In addition, conventional injectable COVID-19 vaccines require storage and distribution in a refrigerator or freezer. However, a sublingual vaccine can be stored at room temperature; therefore, they can resolve vaccine inequities by reducing distribution costs and improving vaccine accessibility in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Furthermore, needle-free vaccines can improve immunization, especially in LMICs with insufficient healthcare professionals and medical facilities. Through driving effective COVID-19 vaccine rollout in LMICs with a sublingual COVID-19 vaccine, the risk of new variants emerging can be lowered, which might help solve the global pandemic situation.

In this project, CHA Vaccine Institute provides the adjuvant to be used in the COVID-19 subunit vaccine. PanGen Biotech supplies the antigen of the COVID-19 vaccine, and BioLingus provides formulations of the sublingual vaccine.

The three research partners secured the grant from the Research Investment for Global Health Technology Fund (The RIGHT Fund), a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) funding agency between the Ministry of Health and Welfare of South Korea, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations, and the Korean life science companies. The RIGHT Fund financially supports R&D projects for vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics technology tackling endemic and emerging infectious diseases in LMICs.

Jung Sun Yum, CEO of CHA Vaccine Institute, said, "We expect to develop a sublingual vaccine platform in preparation for future pandemics through global research collaboration based on CHA Vaccine Institute's technology."

Yves Decadt, CEO of BioLingus, commented: "We are very excited about this project with the potential to be a game-changer in how COVID vaccines can be administered in the future."

(Press release/RAN)